











I 




• 



: 



• 



THE 



ODES OF PINDAR, 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE. 



BY 



DAWSON W. TURNER, M.A., 

BEAD MASTER OP THE ROYAL INSTITUTION SCHOOL, LIVERPOOL, LATE DEMY 
AND EXHIBITIONER OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD. 



TO WHICH IS ADJOINED 



A METRICAL VERSION, 



BY 

ABRAHAM MOORE. 



LONDON: 
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COYENT GARDEN. 

MDCCCLII. 






printed by 

cox (brothers) and wyman, great queen street, 

lincoln's-inn fields. 



NOTICE. 



In preparing the following prose translation, I have endea- 
voured to exhibit such a rendering of the text as I should 
myself have been glad to have, when preparing for a Uni- 
versity Examination. 

Any one who is at all acquainted with the difficulty of 
the author, will readily pardon my having in no case ventured 
to substitute any phraseology of my own for what I be- 
lieved to be the literal meaning. 

I have to express the greatest possible obligations to the 
commentaries of Boeckh and Dissen, but for the assistance 
f which I should hardly have ventured on my present task, 
[any thanks are also due for the aid afforded by Mr. 
ookesley's excellent notes, as well as those of Dr. Donald- 
son. I have, I trust, in every instance, acknowledged my 
obligations. 

If I have in any degree succeeded in presenting the 
student with a not-unworthy representation of Pindar's 
meaning, the merit is mainly to be attributed to these 
resources and to the great kindness of three excellent friends, 
the Rev. J. Lonsdale, M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, 
Oxford ; the Rev. John G. Sheppard, M.A., 2nd Master of 
Repton School, and late Fellow of Wadham College ; and 
Mr. J. LI. Davies, B.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge ; who have given me the benefit of their revision 
and correction throughout the whole work. 

With the few exceptions pointed out as they occur, I 
have followed the text of Bergk, from whom the Prefaces 
also are taken. Dr. Donaldson had set me the example of 
adopting the Introductions of the Odes from Dissen's 
Commentary. 

D. W. T. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



Since the prose portion of this volume was completed, the 
publisher has obtained permission from the executors of the 
late Mr. Abraham Moore to reprint his excellent metrical 
version, and accordingly has the pleasure of adjoining it. As 
this version is distinguished for poetry, scholarship, and taste, 
and is besides among the rarest and most expensive volumes* 
of our modern literature, the literary public will have reason 
to be satisfied with its reproduction on such advantageous 
terms. 

H. G. B. 



York Street, 

October 3\st, 1851. 



CONTENTS. 



OLYMPIC ODES. 

Ode I. To Hiero the Syracusian 

II. To Theron of Agrigentum 

III. TO THE SAME THERON 

IV. To PSAUMIS OF Camarina 
V. TO THE SAME PSAUMIS OF CAMARINA 

VI. To Agesias the Syracusian 

VII. TO DlAGORAS OF RHODES 

VIII. To Alcimedon and Timosthenes his Brother 

IX. To Epharmostus the Opuntian . . 

X. To Agesidamus of Locris Epizephyria 

XI. To the same Agesidamus 

XII. To Ergoteles of Himera 

XIII. To Xenophon the Corinthian . . 

XIV. To Asopichus the Orchomenian . . 



Literal. 


Metrical 


Pages 9 


167 


.. 12 


176 


.. 15 


184 


.. 17 


189 


.. 19 


192 


.. 20 


195 


.. 24 


205 


HER 28 


214 


.. 31 


220 


.. 34 


229 


.. 35 


237 


.. 39 


238 


.. 40 


240 


.. 44 


250 



PYTHIAN ODES. 

Ode T. To Hiero the ^Etn^an . . 

II. TO THE SAME HlERO 

III. TO THE SAME HlERO 

IV. To Arcesilaus the Cyren^ian . 

V. To Arcesilaus the Cyren^san . 

VI. To Xenocrates of Agrigentum . 

VII. To Megacles the Athenian 

VIII. To Aristomenes of ^Egina 

IX. To Telesicrates of Cyrene 

X. TO HlPPOCLEAS THE THESSALIAN . 

XI. To ThrasyDjEus the Theban 

XII. To Midas of Agrigentum 



.. 53 


253 


.. 57 


264 


.. 61 


272 


.. 65 


281 


.. 76 


306 


.. 80 


313 


.. 82 


316 


.. 83 


317 


.. 86 


323 


.. 91 


332 


.. 94 


338 


.. 97 


343 



NEMEAN ODES. 
Ode I. To Chromius the ^Etn^an 

II. TO TlMODEMUS OF ATHENS 

III. To Aristoclides of ./Egina 

IV. TO TlMASARCHUS OF iEGINA 



105 
108 
109 
112 



346 
351 
354 



X PREFACE. 

the lyre. At a subsequent period, the beautiful Corinna 
became his instructor. Some assert that he enjoyed also 
the singular advantage of being the pupil of Simonides, 
though no styles of poetry can be more dissimilar than that 
instinct with the ardent, impetuous, and daring spirit of 
Pindar, and the soft, pensive, and mellow tenderness of his 
reputed master. Not only poetry, but also the sister art of 
music was carefully studied by the bard. Athenseus informs 
us, that Lasus of Hermione, an excellent musician and 
dithyrambic poet, imparted to him his skill in playing on 
the lyre. Certain it is that he was prepared by no common 
attention for that high and glorious career in which he left 
every competitor behind him. 

Pindar seems to have been early received with great 
honour by Alexander, son of Amyntas, at the court of 
Macedon. He overcame his teacher Myrtis in a contest of 
musical skill; but was no less than five times defeated by 
Corinna in striving for the reward of poetry. It is in- 
timated, indeed, by some, that the judges were inclined to 
favour the female candidate rather by the admiration of her 
personal charms than of her poetical genius. Our bard 
must, however, have been very young at this time, as 
Diodorus Siculus asserts that he had only attained the age 
of forty at the time of the battle of Salamis. 

In the public assemblies of Greece, Pindar no sooner 
appeared than he attained a height of popular favour which 
seems never to have left him ; nor was his fame confined to 
the people. As he sung the praises of the conquerors in 
those games at which kings and princes strove for the prize, 
he naturally acquired the favour and patronage of the great. 
He enjoyed the favour of Hiero, king of Syracuse, whose 
munificence he delighted to repay by immortal praise. His 
partiality to the Athenians, however, drew on him the 
resentment of his countrymen. Because he had celebrated 



PREFACE. XI 

Athens as the chief support of Greece, they laid on him a 
heavy fine, on which the Athenians presented him with 
a sum of double the amount. Authors are divided respecting 
the time in which he died, some asserting that he only 
reached the age of fifty-six, while others maintain that he 
was eighty-six at the time of his decease. His departure 
from life was gentle, for it took place while he was sitting 
in a public assembly, and, till the spectators retired, he was 
thought to be slumbering. As a prodigy is related of his 
birth, so attempts were made by the Greeks to surround 
his death by mystery. It is said, that having in one of his 
poems represented Agamedes and Trophonius as rewarded 
by sudden death for building the temple of Apollo, he was 
referred by the priestess, on his inquiring what was best for 
mankind, to his own verses. He understood this reply as 
an intimation of approaching and sudden dissolution, which 
soon after took place. 

Extraordinary honours were paid to Pindar, both during 
his life and after his decease. His odes and religious 
hymns were chanted in the temples of Greece before the 
most crowded assemblies, and on the most solemn occasions. 
The priestess of Apollo, at Delphi, declared that it was the 
will of that divinity that Pindar should receive half of the 
first-fruits annually offered at his shrine. 

The Athenians erected a statue of brass in honour of him, 
representing him with a diadem and a lyre, and a book 
folded on his knees, which was remaining at the time of 
Pausanias ; and a portion of the sacrifices at the great 
festivals of Greece was, for a long time, set apart for his 
descendants. 

When the Lacedaemonians took Thebes, they spared the 
house and family of Pindar ; and when, afterwards, the city 
was taken by Alexander, the same mark of veneration was 
shown to his memory. His works have been extolled in terms 

b2 



Xll PREFACE. 

of the most ardent admiration by some of the first ancient 
writers. Quinctilian says of him, in his Institutes, " Novem 
Graecorum lyricorum Pindarus princeps, spiritu, magnifi- 
centia, sententiis, figuris ; beatissimus rerum verborumque 
copia et velut quoclam eloquentise flumine, propter quae 
Horatius nemini credit eum imitabilem." — Of the nine 
Greek lyric poets, Pindar is the chief, in spirit, in magnifi- 
cence, in moral sentiments, and in metaphor ; most happy 
both in the abundance of his matter and of his diction; 
and, as it were, with a certain torrent of eloquence, so that 
Horace says no man can imitate him. 

We cannot sufficiently regret the loss of the compositions 
which called forth these eulogies, because though, compared 
with the works of many other renowned authors, a consider- 
able number of Pindar's odes have reached us, those which^ 
survive are not the most interesting in their subjects, nor 
probably the most felicitous in their execution. The works 
of Pindar consisted of hymns and paeans in honour of the 
gods ; songs accompanied by dances, in honour of Apollo ; 
dithyrambic verses to Bacchus, and some minor effusions, 
with the odes on the Olympic, Nemean, Isthmian, and 
Pythian games. Of these latter forty-five remain, which, 
with a few fragments, form the only materials on which we 
can now form any opinion of the extent or peculiar character 
of Pindar's genius. 

No subjects, at first sight, could seem more unfitted for 
sublime poetry than those of the Pindaric remains ; but the 
poet has, with characteristic impetuosity, overcome this 
difficulty by the practice of abandoning the professed objects 
of his panegyric, and bursting into celebrations of the heroes 
of former days, the mighty exploits of demigods, and the 
gorgeous fables of oldest time. In the transition he uses 
little art, but seems to rely, as he safely might, on the change 
being, in itself, most welcome. He is chiefly remarkable for 
the gigantic boldness of his conceptions, and the daring 



PREFACE. XI 11 

sublimity of his metaphors, which stamp him the iEschylus * 
of lyric poetry. The flights of liis imagination are not, 
however, like those of the great tragedian, mingled with the 
intensity of human passion, which, while they carry us 
beyond ourselves, still come home to the heart. He has the ^ 
light without the heat ; his splendours dazzle, but do not 
warm us. There is little of human feeling in his works ; 
they are little more than exhibitions which excite our sur- 
prise, but not our sympathy. His compositions have some- 
thing hard and stony about them — the sublimity and 
nakedness of the rock. The sunshine glitters on the top, 
but no foliage adorns the declivity. All the interest, such 
as it is, arises from the earnestness of the poet himself, and the 
intense ardour with which he is impelled in his lofty career. 
Hence we think more of him than of his work ; while in 
Homer and the Greek tragedians the author is forgotten. 
His conception is so ardent that he cannot wait to develop y 
his metaphors ; he often but half unfolds them, and suffers 
them to blend with the literal descriptions, and form part of 
the subject ; and hence, it appears to us, the obscurities so 
frequently complained of in Pindar have, in a great degree, 
arisen. In the mechanical composition of his odes, however, 
Pindar is by no means so irregular as some have been dis- 
posed to imagine. He commonly preserves the arrangement 
of strophe, antistrophe, and epode ; and though the con- 
struction of these varies in different odes, all the strophes and 
antistrophes in the same ode are framed on the same 
principles, and all the epodes are composed in similar 
measures to each other. 

The commencement of the first Pythian ode is imitated • 
in animated style by Gray, in his " Progress of Poesy : " — 

Oh ! sovereign of the willing soul, 

Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs ! 
Enchanting shell ! the sullen cares, 

And frantic passions bear thy soft control. 



XIV PREFACE. 

On Thracia's hills the lord of war 
Has curbed the fury of his car, 
And dropped his thirsty lance at thy command. 
Perching on the sceptred hand 
Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feathered king 
With ruffled plumes and flagging wing : 
Quenched in dark clouds of slumber, lie 
The terrors of his beak, and lightnings of his eye. 

Akenside, in his Hymn to the Naiads, has also imitated 
part of this extract : — 

With slackened wings, 



While now the solemn concert breathes around, 
Incumbent o'er the sceptre of his lord, 
Sleeps the stern eagle ; by the numbered notes 
Possessed ; and satiate with the melting tones, 
Sovereign of birds. The furious god of war, 
His darts forgetting, and the rapid wheels 
That bear him vengeful o'er th' embattled plains, 
Relents. 



In the second Olympic Ode, Pindar thus introduces us 
into the Fortunate Islands, the Paradise of the ancients, and 
paints with equal vividness and beauty the felicity of the 
blessed. West, in his translation, seems to have caught 
some portion of the spirit of the original : — 

STROPHE IV. 

But in the happy fields of light, 

When Phoebus with an equal ray, 
Illuminates the balmy night, 

And gilds the cloudless day, 
In peaceful, unmolested joy, 
The good their smiling hours employ. 
Them no uneasy wants constrain 

To vex th' ungrateful soil, 
To tempt the dangers of the billowy main, 

And break their strength with unabated toil, 
A frail disastrous being to maintain. 

But in their joyous calm abodes, 
The recompense of justice they receive ; 

And in the fellowship of gods, 
Without a tear eternal ages live. 

While, banished by the fates from joy and rest, 
Intolerable woes the impious soul infest. 



PREFACE. XV 



ANTISTROPHE IV. 



But they who, in true virtue strong, 

The third purgation can endure ; 
And keep their minds from fraudful wrong 

And guilt's contagion pure ; 
They through the starry paths of Jove 
To Saturn's blissful seat remove ; 
Where fragrant breezes, vernal airs, 

Sweet children of the main, 
Purge the blest island from corroding cares, 

And fan the bosom of each verdant plain : 
Whose fertile soil immortal fruitage bears ; 

Trees, from whose flowering branches flow, 
Arrayed in golden bloom, refulgent beams ; 

And flowers of golden hue, that blow 
On the fresh borders of their parent streams. 
These, by the blest, in solemn triumph worn, 
Their unpolluted hands and clustering locks adorn. 

How sublimely has the Grecian poet described an eruption 
of Mount JEina, ! which West has translated : — 

By snowy ^Etna, nurse of endless frosts, 
The pillared prop of heaven, for ever pressed : 

Forth from whose nitrous caverns issuing rise 
Pure liquid fountains of tempestuous fire, 

And veil in ruddy mists the noon-day skies, 
While wrapt in smoke the eddying flames aspire, 
Or gleaming through the night with hideous roar, 
Par o'er the reddening main huge rocky fragments pour. 

1st Pythian ode. 

The imitators of Pindar, from Horace to Cowley, have 
been numerous ; but the judgment of Horace, that he can 
never, in his own peculiar excellences, be equalled, has not 
been yet disproved. Gray, in his happiest passages, has, 
perhaps, most nearly approached him. 



XVI PREFACE. 



PART II. 



(Extract from Mailer's Literature of Ancient Greece, Chapter xv., 
Section 3, pp. 220—228.) 

The only class of poems which, enables us to judge of 
Pindar's general style, are the epinikia or triumphal odes. 
Pindar, indeed, excelled in all the known varieties of choral 
poetry ; viz., hymns to the gods, paeans, and dithyrambs ap- 
propriate to the worship of particular divinities, odes for 
processions (7rpw<ro£ta), songs of maidens (-apdiveta), mimic 
dancing songs (vTropxv^cira), drinking songs (oxoXta), dirges, 
($pf]i>oi), and encomiastic odes to princes (e-ytcu>fiia), which 
last approached most nearly to the epinikia. The poems 
of Pindar in these various styles were nearly as renowned 
among the ancients as the triumphal odes ; which is proved 
by the numerous quotations of them. Horace, too, in enume- 
rating the different styles of Pindar's poetry, puts the dithy- 
rambs first, then the hymns, and afterwards the epinikia 
and the threnes. Nevertheless there must have been some 
decided superiority in the epinikia, which caused them to 
be more frequently transcribed in the later period of anti- 
quity, and thus rescued them from perishing with the rest of 
the Greek lyric poetry. At any rate these odes, from the 
vast variety of their subjects and style, and their refined and 
elaborate structure, — some approaching to hymns and paeans, 
others to scolia and hyporchemes, — serve to indemnify us for 
the loss of the other sorts of lyric poetry. 

We will now explain, as precisely as possible, the occasion 
of an epinikian ode, and the mode of its execution. A vic- 
tory has been gained in a contest at a festival, particularly 
at one of the four great games most prized by the Greek 
people, either by the speed of horses, the strength and dex- 



PREFACE. XV11 

terity of the human body, or by skill in music. Such a 
victory as tins, which shed a lustre not only on the victor 
himself, but on his family, and even on his native city, de- 
manded a solemn celebration. This celebration might be 
performed by the victor's friends on the spot where the vic- 
tory was gained ; as for example, at Olympia, when in the 
evening after the termination of the contests, by the light of 
the moon, the whole sanctuary resounded with joyful songs 
after the manner of the encomia. Or it might be deferred 
until after the victor's solemn return to his native city, 
where it was sometimes repeated, in following years, in com- 
.memoration of his success. A celebration of this kind 
always had a religious character, it often began with a pro- 
cession to an altar or temple, in the place of the games or 
in the native city j a sacrifice, followed by a banquet, was 
then offered at the temple, or in the house of the victor ; 
and the whole solemnity concluded with the merry and 
boisterous revel called by the Greeks Kuj/jtog. At this sacred, 
and, at the same time, joyous solemnity (a mingled character 
frequent among the Greeks), appeared the chorus, trained by 
the poet, or some other skilled person, for the purpose of 
reciting the triumphal hymn, which was considered the 
fairest ornament of the festival. It was during either the 
procession or the banquet that the hymn was recited ; as it 
was not properly a religious hymn which could be combined 
with the sacrifice. The form of the poem must, to a certain 
extent, have been determined by the occasion on which it 
was to be recited. From expressions which occur in several 
epinikian odes, it is probable that all odes consisting of 
strophes without epodes, were sung during a procession to a 
temple or to the house of the victor ; although there are 
others containing expressions denoting movement, and which 
yet have epodes. It is possible that the epodes in the latter 
odes may have been sung at certain intervals when the pro- 



XY111 PREFACE. 

cession was not advancing ; for an epode, according to the 
statements of the ancients, always required that the chorus 
should be at rest. But by far the greater number of the 
odes of Pindar were sung at the Comus, at the jovial termi- 
nation of the feast; and hence Pindar himself more fre- 
quently names his odes from the Comus than from the victory. 
§ 4. The occasion of an epinikian ode, — a victory in the 
sacred game — and its end — the ennobling of a solemnity 
connected with the worship of the gods, — required that it 
should be composed in a lofty and dignified style. But, on 
the other hand, the boisterous mirth of the feast did not 
admit the severity of the antique poetical style, like that of 
the hymns and nomes ; it demanded a free and lively expres- 
sion of feeling, in harmony with the occasion of the festival, 
and suggesting the noblest ideas connected with the victor. 
Pindar, however, gives no detailed description of the victory, 
as that would have been only a repetition of the spectacle 
vVhich had already been beheld with enthusiasm by the as- 
sembled Greeks at Olympia or Pytho ; nay, he often bestows 
only a few words on the victory, recording its place and the 
sort of contest in which it was won. Nevertheless, he does 
not (as many writers have supposed) treat the victory as a 
merely secondary object, which he despatches quickly, in 
order to pass on to subjects of greater interest. The victory, 
in truth, is always the point on which the whole of the ode 
turns ; only he regards it not simply as an incident, but as 
connected with the whole life of the victor. Pindar esta- 
blishes this connection by forming a high conception of the 
fortunes and character of the victor, and by representing the 
victory as the result of them. And as the Greeks were less 
accustomed to consider a man in his individual capacity, than 
as a member of his state and his family, so Pindar considers 
the renown of the victor in connection with the past and 
present condition of the race and state to which he belongs. 



PREFACE. XIX 

Now there axe two different points from which the poet 
might view the life of the victor ; viz., destiny or merit ; in 
other words, he might celebrate his good fortune or his skill. 
In the victory with horses, external advantages were the 
chief consideration, inasmuch as it required excellent horses 
and an excellent driver, both of which were attainable only 
by the rich. The skill of the victor was more conspicuous 
in gymnastic feats, although even in these, good luck and the 
favour of the gods might be considered as the main causes of 
success ; especially as it was a favourite opinion of Pindar's, 
that all excellence is a gift of nature. The good fortune 
or skill of the victor could not, however, be treated abstract- 
edly ; but must be individualized by a description of his 
peculiar lot. This individual colouring might be given by 
representing the good fortune of the victor as a compensation 
for past ill fortune ; or, generally, by describing the alterna- 
tions of fortune in his lot and in that of his family. Another 
theme for an ode might be, that success in gymnastic contests 
was obtained by a family in alternate generations, that is, by 
the grandfathers and grandsons, but not by the intermediate 
generation. If, however, the good fortune of the victor had 
been invariable, congratulation at such rare happiness was 
accompanied with moral reflections, especially on the right 
manner of estimating or enduring good fortune, or on the 
best mode of turning it to account. According to the notions 
of the Greeks, an extraordinary share of the gifts of fortune 
suggested a dread of the Nemesis, which delighted in hum- 
bling the pride of man ; and hence the warning to be prudent, 
and not to strive after further victories. The admonitions 
which Pindar addresses to Hiero are to cultivate a calm 
serenity of mind after the cares and toils by which he had 
founded and extended his empire, and to purify and ennoble 
by poetry a spirit which had been ruffled by unworthy pas- 
sions. Even when the skill of the victor is put in the fore- 



XX PREFACE. 

ground, Pindar, in general, does not content himself with cele- 
brating this bodily prowess alone, but he usually adds some 
moral virtue which the victor has shown, or which he recom- 
mends and extols. This virtue is sometimes moderation, 
sometimes wisdom, sometimes filial love, sometimes piety to 
the gods. The latter is frequently represented as the main 
cause of the victory ; the victor having thereby obtained the 
protection of the deities w^lio preside over gymnastic con- 
tests, — as Hermes or the Dioscuri. It is evident that, with 
Pindar, this mode of accounting for success was not the mere 
fiction of a poet ; he sincerely thought that he had traced 
the victory to the favour of a god who took an especial in- 
terest in the family of the victor, and at the same time 
presided over the games. Generally, indeed, in extolling 
both the skill and fortune of the victor, Pindar appears to 
adhere to the truth as faithfully as he declares himself to do ; 
nor is he ever betrayed into a high-flown style of panegyric 
A republican dread of incurring the censure of his fellow- 
citizens, as well as an awe of the divine Nemesis, induced him 
to moderate his praises, and to keep in view the instability 
of human fortune, and the narrow limits of human strength. 
Thus far the poet seems to wear the character of a sage 
who expounds to the victor his destiny, by showing him the 
dependence of his exploit iipon a higher order of things. 
Nevertheless, it is not to be supposed that the poet placed 
himself on an eminence remote from ordinary life, and that 
he spoke like a priest to the people unmoved by personal 
feelings. The Epinikia of Pindar, although they were 
delivered by a chorus, were, nevertheless, the expression of 
his individual feelings and opinions, and are full of allusions 
to his personal relations to the victor. Sometimes, indeed, 
when his relations of this kind were peculiarly interesting to 
him, he made them the main subject of the ode ; several of 
his odes, and some among the most difficult, are to be 



PREFACE. XXI 

explained in this manner. In one of his odes Pindar justifies 
the sincerity of his poetry against the charges which had 
been brought against it; and represents his muse as a just 
and impartial dispenser of fame, as well among the victors 
at the games, as among the heroes of antiquity. In another 
he reminds the victor that he had predicted the victory to 
him at the public games, and had encouraged him to become 
a competitor for it ; and he extols him for having employed 
his wealth for so noble an object. In another he excuses 
himself for having delayed the composition of an ode which 
he had promised to a wrestler among the youths, until the 
victor had attained his manhood ; and as if to incite himself 
to the fulfilment of his promise, he points out the hallowed 
antiquity of these triumphal hymns, connecting their origin 
with the first establishment of the Olympic games. 

§ 5. Whatever might be the theme of one of Pindar's 
epinikian odes, it would naturally not be developed with 
the systematic completeness of a philosophical treatise. Pin- 
dar, however, has undoubtedly much of that sententious 
wisdom which began to show itself among the Greeks, at the 
time of the seven wise men, and which formed an important 
element of elegiac and choral lyric poetry before the time of 
Pindar. The apophthegms of Pindar sometimes assume the 
form of general maxims, and sometimes of direct admonitions 
•to the victor. At other times, when he wishes to impress 
some principle of morality or prudence upon the victor, he 
gives it in the form of an opinion entertained by himself : 
* I like not to keep much riches hoarded in an inner room ; 
but I like to live well by my possessions, and to procure 
myself a good name by making large gifts to my friends." 

The other element of Pindar's poetry, his mythical narra- 
tives, occupies, however, far more space in most of his odes. 
That these are not mere digressions, for the sake of ornament, 
has been completely proved by modern commentators. At 



XX11 PREFACE. 

the same time he would sometimes seem to wish it to be 
believed, that he had been carried away by his poetical 
fervour, when he returns to his theme from a long mythical 
narration, or when he annexes a mythical story to a prover- 
bial saying ; as, for example, when he subjoins to the figura- 
tive expression, " Neither by sea nor by land canst thou find 
the way to the Hyperboreans," the history of Perseus' visit 
to that fabulous people. But even in such cases as these, it 
will be found, on close examination, that the fable belongs 
to the subject. Indeed, it may be observed generally of 
those Greek writers who aimed at the production of works 
of art, whether in prose or in poetry, that they often conceal 
their real purpose, and affect to leave in vague uncertainty 
that which had been composed studiously and on a precon- 
ceived plan. Thus Plato often seems to allow the dialogue to 
deviate into a wrong course, when this very course was 
required by the investigation. In other passages Pindar 
himself remarks that intelligence and reflection are required 
to discover the hidden meaning of his mythical episodes. 
Thus, after a description of the Islands of the Blessed, and 
the heroes who dwell there, he says, " I have many swift 
arrows in my quiver, which speak to the wise, but need an 
interpreter for the multitude." Again, after the story of 
Ixion, which he relates in an ode to Hiero, he continues, — 
" I must, however, have a care lest I fall into the biting, 
violence of the evil speakers ; for, though distant in time, 
I have seen that the slanderous Archilochus, who fed upon 
loud-tongued wrath, passed the greater part of his life in 
difficulties and distress." It is not easy to understand in 
this passage what moves the poet to express so much anxiety ; 
until we advert to the lessons which the history of Ixion 
contains for the rapacious Hiero. 

The reference of these mythical narratives to the main 
theme of the ode, may be either historical or ideal. In the 



PREFACE. XX111 

first case the mythical personages alluded to are the heroes 
at the head of the family or state to which the victor belongs, 
or the founders of the games in which he has conquered. 
Among the many odes of Pindar to victors from ^Egina, 
there is none in which he does not extol the heroic race of 
the iEacids. " It is," he says, " to me an invariable law, 
when I turn towards this island, to scatter praise upon you, 
O iEacids! masters of golden chariots !" In the second case 
events of the heroic age are described, which resemble the 
events of the victor's life, or which contain lessons and 
admonitions for him to reflect upon. Thus two mythical 
personages may be introduced, of whom one may typify the 
victor in his praiseworthy, the other in his blameable acts : 
so that the one example may serve to deter, the other to 
encourage. In general Pindar contrives to unite both these 
modes of allusion, by representing the national or family 
heroes as allied in character and spirit to the victor. Their 
extraordinary strength and felicity are continued in their 
descendants ; the same mixture of good and evil destiny, 
and even the same faults recur in their posterity. It is to 
be observed, that, in Pindar's time, the faith of the Greeks 
in the connection of the heroes of antiquity with passing 
events was unshaken. The origin of historical events was 
sought in a remote age ; conquests and settlements in bar- 
barian countries were justified by corresponding enterprises 
of heroes : the Persian war was looked upon as an act of the 
same great drama of which the expedition of the Argonauts 
and the Trojan war formed the earlier parts. At the same 
time the mythical part was considered as invested with 
a splendour and sublimity of which even a faint reflection 
was sufficient to embellish the present. This is the cause of 
the historical and political allusions of the Greek tragedy, 
particularly in iEschylus. Even the history of Herodotus 
rests on the same foundations j but it is seen most distinctly 



PREFACE. 



in the copious mythology which Pindar has pressed into thi 
service of his lyric poetry. The manner in which mythical 
subjects were treated by the lyric poets was, of course, 
different from that in which they had been treated by the epic 
poets. In epic poetry the mythical narrative is interesting 
in itself, and all parts of it are developed with equal fulness. 
In lyric poetry it serves to exemplify some particular idea, 
which is stated usually in the middle or at the end of the 
ode ; and those points only of the story are brought into 
relief, which serve to illustrate this idea. Accordingly, the 
longest mythical narrative in Pindar (viz. the description of 
the voyage of the Argonauts in the Pythian ode to Arcesi- 
laus, king of Cyrene, which is continued through twenty-five 
strophes) falls far short of the sustained difluseness of the 
epos. Consistently with the purpose of this ode, it is intended 
to set forth the descent of the kings of Cyrene from the 
Argonauts, and the poet only dwells on the relation of Jason 
with Pelias — of the noble exile with the jealous tyrant — 
because it contains a serious admonition to Arcesilaus in his 
above-mentioned relation with Damophilus. 

§ 6. The mixture of apophthegmatic maxims and typical 
narratives would alone render it difficult to follow the thread 
of Pindar's meaning ; but, in addition to this cause of ob- 
scurity, the entire plan of his poetry is so intricate, that a 
modern reader often fails to understand the connection of 
the parts, even where he thinks he has found a clue. Pin- 
dar begins an ode full of the lofty conception which he has 
formed of the glorious destiny of the victor ; and he seems, 
as it were, carried away by the flood of images which this 
conception pours forth. He does not attempt to express 
directly the general idea, but follows the train of thoughts 
which it suggests into its details, though without losing 
sight of their reference to the main object. Accordingly, 
when he has pursued a train of thought, either in an 



> 



PREFACE. XXV 

apophthegniatic or mythical form, up to a certain point, he 

breaks off before he has gone far enough to make the 

application to the victor sufficiently clear; he then takes 

up another thread, which, perhaps, is soon dropped for a 

fresh one ; and at the end of the ode he gathers up all these 

different threads, and weaves them together into one web, 

in which the general idea predominates. By reserving the 

explanation of his allusions until the end, Pindar contrives 

that his odes should consist of parts which are not complete 

or intelligible in themselves ; and thus the curiosity of the 

reader is kept on the stretch throughout the entire ode. 

Thus, for example, the ode upon the Pythian victory which 

was gained by Hiero, as a citizen of ^Etna, a city founded 

by himself, proceeds upon the general idea of the repose 

and serenity of mind which Hiero at last enjoys, after a 

laborious life, and to which Pindar strives to contribute by 

the influence of music and poetry. Full of this idea, Pindar 

begins by describing the effects of music upon the gods in 

Olympus, how it delights, inspires, and soothes them, 

although it increases the anguish of Typhos, the enemy of 

the gods, who lies bound under iEtna. Thence, by a sudden 

transition, he passes to the new town of iEtna, under the 

mountain of the name ; extols the happy auspices under 

which it was founded ; and lauds Hiero for his great deeds 

in war, and for the wise constitution he has given to the 

new state ; to which Pindar wishes exemption from foreign 

enemies and internal discord. Thus far it does not appear 

how the praises of music are connected with the exploits of 

Hiero as a warrior and a statesman. But the connection 

becomes evident when Pindar addresses to Hiero a series of 

moral sentences, the object of which is to advise him to 

subdue all unworthy passions, to refresh his mind with the 

contemplation of art, and thus to obtain from the poets a 

good name which will descend to posterity. 

c 



xxvi preface: 

§ 7. The characteristics of Pindar's poetry, which have 
been just explained, may be discerned in all his epinikian 
odes. Their agreement, however, in this respect, is quite 
consistent with the extraordinary variety of style and 
expression which has been already stated to belong to this 
class of poems. Every epinikian ode of Pindar has its 
peculiar tone, depending upon the course of the ideas, and 
the consequent choice of the expressions. The principal 
differences are connected with the choice of the rhythms, 
which again is regulated by the musical style. According 
to the last distinction, the epinikia of Pindar are of three 
sorts, Doric, ^Eolic, and Lydian ; which can be easily dis- 
tinguished, although each admits of innumerable varieties. 
In respect of metre, every ode of Pindar has an individual 
character ; no two odes having the same metrical structure. 
In the Doric ode the same metrical forms occur as those 
which prevailed in the choral lyric poetry of Stesichorus, 
viz. ; systems of dactyls and trochaic dipodies, which most 
nearly approach the stateliness of the hexameter. Accord- 
ingly, a serene dignity pervades these odes ; the mythical 
narrations are developed with greater fulness, and the ideas 
are limited to the subject, and are free from personal feeling; 
in short, their general character is that of calmness and 
elevation. The language is epic, with a slight Doric tinge, 
which adds to its brilliancy and dignity. The rhythms of the 
^Eohc odes resemble those of the Lesbiau poetry, in which 
light dactylic, trochaic, or logacedic metres prevailed ; these 
rhythms, however, when applied to choral lyric poetry, were 
rendered far more various, and thus often acquired a charac- 
ter of greater volubility and liveliness. The poet's mind 
also moves with greater rapidity ; and sometimes he stops 
himself in the midst of narrations which seem to him 
impious or arrogant. A larger scope is likewise given to his 
personal feelings ; and in the addresses to the victor there is 



PREFACE. XXV11 

a gayer tone, which at times even takes a jocular turn. 
The poet introduces his relations to the victor, and to his 
poetical rivals ; he extols his own style, and decries that of 
others. The ^Eolic odes, from the rapidity and variety of 
their movement, have a less uniform character than the 
Doric odes ; for example, the first Olympic, with its joyous 
and glowing images, is very different from the second, in 
which a lofty melancholy is expressed ; and from the ninth, 
which has a proud and complacent self-reliance. The lan- 
guage of the ^Eolic epinikia is also bolder, more difficult in 
its syntax, and marked by rarer dialectical forms. Lastly, 
there are the Lydian odes, the number of which is incon- 
siderable : their metre is mostly trochaic, and of a particu- 
larly soft character, agreeing with the tone of the poetry. 
Pindar appears to have preferred the Lydian rhythms for 
odes which were destined to be sung during a procession to 
a temple, or at the altar, and in which the favour of the 
deity was implored in an humble spirit. 



OLYMPIAN ODES. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE OLYMPIAN ODES. 



(Extracted from Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities. — Abridged Ed.) 

The Olympic Festival was a Pentaeteris (jrev-aerrjpic), that 
is, according to the ancient mode of reckoning, a space of 
fonr years elapsed between each festival, in the same way as 
there was only a space of two years between a Trieteris. It 
was celebrated on the first full moon after the summer sol- 
stice. It lasted, after all the contests had been introduced, 
five days, from the 11th to the loth days of the month 
inclusive. The fourth day of the festival was the 14th of 
the month, which was the day of the full moon, and which 
divided the month into two equal parts. 

The festival was under the immediate superintendence of 
the Olympian Zeus, whose temple at Olympia, adorned with 
the statue of the god made by Phidias, was one of the most 
splendid works of art in Greece. There were also temples 
and altars to other gods. The festival itself may be divided 
into two parts — the games or contests (aywv 'OXt^-iaiwc), 
and the festive rites (eopri)) ; connected with the sacrifices, 
with the processions, and with the public banquets in honour 
of the conquerors. 

The contests consisted of various trials of strength and 
skill, which were increased in number from time to time. 
There were in all twenty-four contests, eighteen in which 
men took part, and six in which boys engaged, though they 

b2 



4 INTRODUCTION TO THE 

were never all exhibited at one festival, since some were 
abolished almost immediately after their institution, and 
others after they had been in use only a short time. We 
subjoin a list of these from Pausanias, with the date of 
introduction of each, commencing from the Olympiad of 
Corsebus : — 1st. The foot-race (cpo/uoc), which was the only 
contest during the first 13 Olympiads. 2nd. The clavXoc, 
or foot-race, in which the stadium was traversed twice, first 
introduced in Olympiad 14. 3rd. The SuXixoc, a still longer 
foot-race than the clavXoc, introduced in Olympiad 15. 4th. 
Wrestling (koXii) ; and 5th. The Pentathlum (jrivraQXov), 
which consisted of five exercises, viz. leaping, the foot-race, 
the throwing the discus, the throwing the spear, and 
wrestling; both introduced in Olympiad 18. 6th. Boxing 
{Kvyp.ii), introduced in Olympiad 23. 7th. The chariot-race, 
with four full-grown horses ^1-kojv teXeIiov opofioc, apjua), 
introduced in Olympiad 25. 8th. The Pancratium (Kayicpa.- 
tlov), consisting of boxing and wrestling; and 9th. The 
horse-race {jmcos keXtiq), both introduced in Olympiad 33. 
10th and 11th. The foot-race and wrestling for boys, intro- 
duced in Olympiad 37. 12th. The Pentathlum for boys, 
introduced in Olympiad 38, but immediately afterwards 
abolished. 13th. Boxing for boys, introduced in Olym- 
piad 41. 14th. The foot-race, in which men ran with the 
equipments of heavy-armed soldiers {rCbv LkXi-uv dpo/uog), 
introduced in Olympiad 05, on account of its training 
men for actual service in war. 15th. The chariot-race 
with mules (chr^vi}), introduced in Olympiad 70 ; and 
IGth. The horse-race with mares {koXiti/), introduced in 
Olympiad 71 ; both of which were abolished in Olympiad 84. 
17 th. The chariot-race with two full-grown horses {imrtop 
reXeicov awiopie), introduced in Olympiad 93. 18th and 19th. 
The contests of heralds (u'lpvtcec) and trumpeters (vaXKiyKral), 
introduced in Olympiad 96. 20th. The chariot-race with 



OLYMPIAN ODES. " 

four foals (ttwXwj/ &pfiaertv), introduced in Olympiad 99. 
21st. The chariot-race "with two foals (ttuXojv (ruviopig), intro- 
duced in Olympiad 128. 22nd. The horse-race with foals 
(7ru)\og Kt\r)s)j introduced in Olympiad 131. 23rd. The 
Pancratium for boys, introduced in Olympiad 145. 24th. 
There was also a horse-race (l-trog KeX-qg), in which boys 
rode, but we do not know the time of its introduction. 

The judges in the Olympic Games, called Hellanodica3 
(EWavoctKui), were appointed by the Eleans, who had the 
regulation of the whole festival. It appears to have been 
originally under the superintendence of Pisa, in the neigh- 
bourhood of which Olympia was situated ; but after the 
conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, on the return of 
the Heraclidae, the iEtolians, who had been of great assist- 
ance to the Heraclida?, settled in Elis, and from this time 
the ^Etolian Eleans obtained the regulation of the festival, 
and appointed the presiding officers. 

The Hellanodicce were chosen by lot from the whole body 
of the Eleans. Their number varied at different periods, but 
at a later time there were eight Hellanodicoa. The office, 
probably, lasted for only one festival. They had to see that 
a!l the laws relating to the games were observed by the 
competitors and others, to determine the prizes and to give 
them to the conquerors. An appeal lay from their decision 
to the Elean senate. Under the direction of the Hel- 
lanodicse were a certain number of Alytse (a\v-ai), with an 
Alytarches (a\v-apxr)c) at their head, who formed a kind 
of police, and carried into execution the commands of the 
Hellanodicse. There were also various other minor officers 
under the control of the Helianodica?. 

All free Greeks were allowed to contend in the games, 
who had complied with the rules prescribed to candidates. 
The equestrian contests were necessarily confined to the 
wealthy; but the poorest citizens could contend in the 



INTRODUCTION TO THE 

athletic games. This, however, was far from degrading the 
games in jmblic opinion ; and some of the noblest as well 
as meanest citizens of the state took part in these contests. 
The owners of the chariots and horses were not obliged to 
contend in person ; and the wealthy vied with one another 
in the number and magnificence of the chariots and horses 
which they sent to the games. 

All persons who were about to contend, had to prove to 
the Hellanoclicse that they were freemen, and of pure Hel- 
lenic blood; that they had not been branded with atimia, 
nor guilty of any sacrilegious act. They further had to 
prove that they had undergone the preparatory training 
{iTpoyvavaajia-a) for ten months previously. All competitors 
were obliged, thirty days before the festival, to undergo 
certain exercises in the Gymnasium, at Elis, under the super- 
intendence of the HellanodicaB. The competitors took their 
places by lot. The herald then proclaimed the name and 
country of each competitor. "When they were all ready to 
begin the contest, the judges exhorted them to acquit them- 
selves nobly, and then gave the signal to commence. The 
only prize given to the conqueror was a garland of wild 
olive (kotivoq), cut from a sacred olive-tree, which grew in the 
sacred grove of Altis, in Olympia. The victor was originally 
crowned upon a tripod covered over with bronze, but after- 
wards upon a table made of ivory and gold. Palm branches, 
the common tokens of victory on other occasions, were placed 
in his hands. The name of the victor, and that of his father 
and of his country, were then proclaimed by a herald before 
the representatives of assembled Greece. The festival ended 
with processions and sacrifices, and with a public banquet 
given by the Eleans to the conquerors in the Prytaneium. 

The most powerful states considered an Olympic victory, 
gained by one of their citizens, to confer honour upon the 
state to which he belonged ; and a conqueror usually had 



OLYMPIAN ODES. / 

immunities and privileges conferred upon liim by the grati- 
tude of his fellow citizens. On his return home the victor 
entered the city in a triumphal procession, in which his 
praises were celebrated, frequently in the loftiest strains of 
poetry. 

(From Wordsworth' s Greece.) 

TJie Olympic games were celebrated once in four years. 
They lasted for five days, and terminated on the full moon 
which succeeded the summer solstice. Contrasted with the 
particular eras which served for the chronological arrange- 
ment of events in distinct provinces of Greece, the epoch 
supplied by their celebration to all the inhabitants of the 
Hellenic soil deserves peculiar attention. While the suc- 
cession of Priestesses of Juno at Argos, while the Ephors at 
Sparta, and the Archons at Athens, furnished to those states 
respectively the basis of their chronological systems ; it was 
not a personage invested with a civil or sacerdotal character, 
who gave his name, not merely to the single years, but to 
the quadrennial periods of the whole of Greece ; it was he 
who was proclaimed victor, not in the chariot race of the 
Hippodrome, but as having outrun his rivals in the stadium 
at Olympia. A reflection on the rapid course of time 
(the great racer in the stadium of the world) might well be 
suggested by such a practice ; but it is more remarkable, as 
illustrating the regard paid, by the unanimous consent of all 
the states of Greece, to those exercises of physical force, 
which preserved them so long from the corruptions of luxury 
and effeminacy, into which, through their growing opulence 
and familiarity with oriental habits, they would very soon 
otherwise have fallen. 

Olympia was the Palaestra of all Greece. The simplicity 
of the prizes, the antiquity of their institution, the sacred 



8 INTRODUCTION TO THE OLYMPIAN ODES. 

ceremonies with which they were conducted ; the glory 
which attached not merely to the victor, but to his parents, 
his friends, and country; his canonization in the Greek 
calendar ; the concourse of rival tribes from every quarter of 
the Greek continent and peninsula to behold the contests 
and to applaud the conqueror ; the lyric songs of poets ; the 
garlands showered upon his head by the hands of friends, of 
strangers, and of Greece herself ; the statue erected to .him 
in the precincts of the consecrated grove, by the side of 
princes, of heroes, and of gods ; the very rareness of the 
celebration, and the glories of the season of the year at which 
it took place, when all the charms of summer were poured 
upon the earth by day, and the full orb of the moon streamed 
upon the olive groves, and the broad flood of the Alpheius 
by night ; these were influences which, while they seemed to 
raise the individual to an elevation more than human, pro- 
duced a far more noble and useful result than this, — that of 
maintaining in the nation a general respect for a manly and 
intrepid character, and of supporting that moral dignity and 
independence, which so long resisted the aggressions of force 
from without, and were proof against the contagion of weak 
and licentious principles within. 



OLYMPIAN I. 

Inscribed to Hiero of Syracuse, victorious in the single horse-race : 
written 01. 77, 1. B.C. 472 : and sung at Syracuse, at a banquet in 
the palace. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 1 7 : Proemium. The poet prepares a hymn in honour of king Hiero, 
for his victory in the Olympic games. 17 — 100 : Digression from the 
mention of Olympia to the fable of Pelops, and the tale of Tantalus's 
crime and its punishment. 100 — end : Eeturn to the praise of Hiero ; 
prayer for his prosperity. 

Best of all things is water, and gold shines far above all 
haughty wealth as blazing fire shines in the night ; but if thou 
wishest to tell of victories, my heart, seek no bright star 
during the day, in the desert air, more genial than the sun ; 
nor can we sing of a contest higher in rank than Olympiad, 
whence the renowned hymn has power over the minds of the 
wise, so that they sing the Son of Cronos, coming to the 
blest wealthy dwelling of Hiero — who wields the righteous 
sceptre in Sicily rich in sheep, plucking the highest of all 
virtues ; a and he is adorned also with the flower of music, 
in such strains as we poets round the hospitable table often 
sing. 

But from the peg take clown the Dorian lyre, if at all the 
glory of Pisa and Pherenicus hath subjected thy mind to the 
influence of sweetest thoughts, when by the Alpheus he 
rushed, displaying in the course a body ungoaded, and 
blended with victory his lord, the Syracusian monarch re- 
joicing in the steed. And for him (the monarch) glory 
shines in Lydian Pelops' colony abounding in brave men 
[i e. in Pisa], — Pelops, whom earth-surrounding Poseidon of 
mighty strength loved from the time when Clotho raised him 
from the unsullied urn, b well furnished as to his resplendent 
shoulder with ivory. Surely many things are wonderful, and 
in these sometimes fables, adorned beyond the truth with 

* v. 13 : the chief of all glories (the heights of all excellencies). 
b v. 26 : or, from the purifying vessel. ^ 



10 OLYMPIAN I. 

varied falsehoods, deceive the report of mortals. And the 
Grace, that procureth all the sweets for mortals, bestowing 
authority hath brought about that the incredible should 
often come to be believed ; but after- days are the best con- 
vincers. 

Now it is becoming to a man to speak what is good con- 
cerning the deities, for so is blame the less. O son of Tan- 
talus, I will record thy story, not as men of yore have done, 
how when thy sire invited the gods to that most holy ban- 
quet, and to friendly Sipylus, offering a return of feasts to 
the gods, then that he of the bright trident seized thee, and, 
tamed in his soul by love, bore thee away on his gold-decked 
steeds to the palace of Zeus the far-honoured, where in after- 
time came Ganymede to the same office. 

But when thou hadst vanished, nor did the men, after 
much search, bring thee to thy mother, forthwith did some 
one of the envious neighbours say that the gods had cut thee 
limb by limb into d the strength of water boiling with fire, 
and on the tables around they distributed among themselves 
the sodden morsels of thy flesh, and ate. But to me it is 
impossible to call any of the blessed ones a glutton ; I stand 
aloof from such a thought. Loss e often befalls the slander- 
ous. But, yet, if the guardians of Olympus honoured any 
mortal man, it was this Tantalus ; but he could not bear 
meekly great prosperity ; but through pride and surfeit 
drew upon lrimself immense calamity, which the Father hung 
over him, a mighty stone for him, which ever eagerly desiring 
to remove from his head, he is a stranger to happiness. This 
helpless constantly-wretched life he has, a fourth affliction 
with three others, because that having stolen the nectar and 
ambrosia of the immortals with which they had made him 
imperishable, he gave it to his comrade boon companions ; 
but if any one expects to escape the notice of the Deity in 
doing aught, he errs. Therefore the immortals sent back his 
son again to the short-lived race of men. But when, about 
the time of blooming youth, down began to shade his chin so 
as to make it dark, he meditated to obtain in contest the 
proffered marriage, the renowned Hippodameia, from her 

c v. 28 : i. e. deceive mortals so that reports are falsified. 
d v. 48 : or, over. e v. 53 : or, small gain. 



OLYMPIAN I. 11 

Pisan sire. And having approached near the hoary sea alone 
in the night, he called upon the deep-sounding lord of the 
goodly trident, and he straightway appeared to him close at 
hand. 

To whom, then, he spake, " If, O Poseidon, the pleasing 
gifts of Cypria at 'all contribute to thy pleasure, impede the 
brazen spear of (Enomaus, and me in swiftest chariot speed 
on to Elis, and bring me near to victory. Since having 
destroyed thirteen hero-suitors he defers the marriage of his 
daughter ; but great danger admits not a cowardly man. 
But one of those who needs must die, why should he sitting 
at his ease in obscurity in vain cherish without a name his 
old age, deprived of all praise ? But to me this combat shall 
be submitted, and do thou grant a favourable issue." Thus 
he spoke, nor did he apply himself to fruitless prayers ; and 
hini the god honoured, and gave him a golden car, and steeds 
unwearied with their wings. f And he conquered the might 
of CEnomaus, and won the maiden consort, and begat six 
lordly sons dear to the virtues. But now he is mingled 
with 6 splendid offerings of blood, lying by the stream of 
the Alpheus, holding a much-frequented tomb near the altar 
thronged by strangers. 

But the glory shines afar of the Olympic games in the 
1 ace-courses of Pelops, where swiftness of feet contends, and 
the height of strength stout at work ; and he who wins hath 
for the remainder of his life delightful calm, as far as his 
contests for the prize can give it. 11 

But the good that ever cometh day by day cometh best to 
every mortal. But it is my duty to crown him with an 
equestrian lay in the ^Eolian measure ; for I feel assured that 
I shall adorn with my illustrious turns of hymns 1 no host of 
all men of the present day more skilled both in the elegancies 
of life, or more powerful in might.J 

The Deity thy guardian, Hiero, provides for thy pur- 
suits, having this care ; and if he fail not soon, I hope to 

f v. S7 : i. e. winged unwearied steeds. 

s v. 91 : he has obtained splendid obsequies. 

h v. 99 : or, " on account of this victory f the ye merely giving 
force to the expression. 

1 v. 104 : or, with inmost folds, i. e. highest flights, of poetry. 

* v. 105 : i. e. either in the lovely lore of music, or in the noble pur- 
suits of horsemanship. 



12 OLYMPIAN II. 

celebrate a still sweeter theme* with the swift car, and 
to come to the sunny Cronius, having found a fitting mode 
of praise. Now, for me the muse doth keep a shaft most 
mighty in strength : one man is greater than another, 1 but in 
kings the summit rises to the highest point : m stretch thy 
views no further. May it be thy lot for tins time 11 to walk 
on high, and mine for as long a time to live with conquerors, 
conspicuous for poetic skill throughout the Greeks in every 
quarter. 



OLYMPIAN II. 

Inscribed to Theron of Agrigentum, conqueror in the chariot-race : 
01. 76, 1. B.C. 476 : sung probably at a banquet at Agrigentum. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 11 : Proemium. Praise of Theron and his family. 12 — 46: The 
changes and vicissitudes of fortune that befel the race of Cadmus, 
under which those of Theron's family are tacitly alluded to. 46 — 83 : 

' Theron's present and future happiness ; the happiness of the good in 
a future state. 83 — end : Conclusion. Envy is deprecated and the 
glories of Theron recounted. 

Ye hymns that rule the lyre, what god, what hero, what man 
shall we celebrate 1 Truly Pisa belongs to Jove, and the 
Olympic games Heracles founded, from the spoils won in war, 
and Theron we must celebrate for his victorious four-horse car, 
just in his reverence towards strangers, a stay of Agragas, 
flower of noble forefathers, upholding the state. Forefathers, 
who, after having suffered many afflictions in their spirit, 
obtained a sacred home by the river," and were the eye of 
Sicily : a fortunate life, too, attended them, bringing both 
wealth and grace to crown their inborn virtues. 

But O Cronian child of Rhea, that presidest over the seat 
of Olympus and the highest of contests, and the stream of 

k Understand nepipvav. 

1 v. 113 : lit. some are great over some. Or, but different men are 
great in different ways. 

m v. 114 : i.e. kings are on the highest pinnacle. 

n v. 115 : i.e. during this period of thy life to be thus ennobled by 
further victories. ° v. 117 : i.e. wherever Greece extends. 

a v. 9 : or, a habitation sanctified by the river close at hand. 



OLYMPIAN II. 13 

Alpheus, soothed by my strains, propitious, preserve for their 
sake their paternal soil for the future race. Of actions once 
accomplished, whether in justice or against justice, not even 
Time, father of all things, can render one issue undone ; but 
with prosperous fortune oblivion may result. For, conquered 
by goodly pleasure, inveterate woe expires, when divine Fate 
sends upwards lofty bliss. 

And what I have said agrees with 1 ' the divine daughters of 
Cadmus, who suffered great sorrows ; but grievous woe fell 
before superior good. There lives among the Olympian gods 
Semele, the long-haired, who died in the thunder's roar ; but 
Pallas loves her ever, and Father Zeus much ; and her ivy- 
wreathed son loves her. They tell, too, that in the sea, 
amongst the marine daughters of Nercus, imperishable life is 
appointed to Ino for all time. Of a surety, to mortals no term 
of death is clearly fixed, nor when we shall close with enduring 
good c a tranquil day, child of the Sun ; but varying at dif- 
ferent times do the streams of good fortune and of troubles 
come about to men. 

So Destiny, which sways the ancestral joyous lot of these, d 
with the heaven-sent bliss brings too some recurring woe at 
another time ; from the time when the fated son fell in with 
Laius, and slew him, and fulfilled the response uttered long 
ago in Pytho. And keen-eyed Erimrys, having beheld the 
crime, destroyed his warlike race with mutual slaughter ; but 
Thersander was left to Polynices at his fall, honoured in 
youthful contests and in battles of war, a scion to support 
the house of the Adrastidse, whence they e derive the origin 
of their race. 

It is befitting that the son of ^Enesidamus should obtain 
the praises of song and of lyre. For at Olympia he himself 
received the gift of honour, 1 ' and in Pytho and the Isthmus 
impartial bestowers of victory s conferred on his co-heir 
brother wreaths won by the four-horse cars, twelve times 
running the course. But success frees from cares him that 
strives in the contest. 

b v. 22 : suits. 

c v. 33 : i. e. with good troubled by no evil. 

d v. 35 : i. e. of the Emmenida?, the ancestors of Theron. 

* i. e. the Emmenidse. f v. 49 : %. e. the crown. 

£ v. 50 : or, the kindred bestowers of victory, &c. 



14 OLYMPIAN II. 

Wealth, when adorned with virtues, conferreth apt occa- 
sion of various honours, 11 suggesting '.deep and vehement 
desire for what is praiseworthy, as a bright star, the true 
light to man : but if any one be so happy as to possess it, 1 
he knows what will hereafter befall ; that the lawless souls 
of those who die here J forthwith suffer punishment, and some 
one beneath the earth pronouncing sentence by dire compul- 
sion^ judges the sinful deeds done in this realm of Zeus ; yet 
the good, enjoying the light of the sun equally by night and 
by day, behold 1 a life less woe-worn, m not vexing the earth 
with strength of hands, nor the waters of ocean, by reason of 
scanty sustenance ; but with the honoured of the gods, with 
those, viz., 11 who ever rejoiced in observance of their oaths, tlie 
good pass a life without a tear ; but theyP endure woe loath- 
some to sight. 

But as many as have had the steadfastness, tarrying thrice 
on either side,i to keep their soul altogether from unjust 
actions, accomplish their way on the path of Zeus to 
the tower r of Cronus ; where ocean breezes blow round the 
island of the blessed, and flowers of gold blaze, some on the 
ground and some on resplendent trees, and the water feeds 
others ; with necklaces of which they intertwine their hands 
and their heads, according to the just decrees of Rhadaman- 
thus. Rhadamanthus, I say, whom Father Cronus hath as 
his ready assessor, Cronus, the spouse of Rhea who holds of 
all the highest throne. 

And Peleus, too, and Cadmus, are numbered amongst 
these ; and there did his mother bring Achilles, after that she 
had persuaded the heart of Zeus with prayers : Achilles, who 
overthrew Hector, the unconquerable immovable pillar of 
Troy, and gave to death Cycnus and the ^Ethiopian son of 
Eos. 

h v. 54 : i. e. gives means of acquiring various advantages. 

1 v. 56 : i. e. wealth adorned with virtue. 

J i. e. who depart hence. 

k v. 60 : i. e. being bound by stern necessity so to do. 

1 i. e. live. 

m v. 62 : viz. than the had, i. e. enjoy a life far sweeter. 

n v. 66 : i.e. among those who ever rejoiced. 

° v. 66 : or, in uprightness, piety. 

p The others, *. e. the wicked. 

« v. 69 : or, having endured thrice in this world and thrice in the 
other. r v. 70 : or, palace. 



OLYMPIAN III. 15 

There are many swift darts under my elbow, within my 
quiver, 3 which have a voice for those with understanding, 
but to the crowd they need interpreters. He is gifted with 
genius who knoweth much by natural talent, but those who 
have learnt,* boisterous in gabbling, like daws, clamour in 
fruitless fashion against the divine bird of Zeus. 

Keep now the bow on the mark ; u come, my spirit, whom 
do we strike at, sending again v shafts of good report from a 
benevolent spirit 1 At Agragas verily stretching my bow, I 
will utter an oath-bound w word from a sincere soul, viz., that 
even for a hundred years that city has brought forth no 
other hero more beneficent in heart to his friends, or more 
ungrudging in hand, than Theron. 

But envy loves to attack praise, not encountering it fairly, x 
but from senseless men, which loves to babble and to obscure 
the nobie deeds of the goodJ Since the sand escapes num- 
bering, as to our hero, what pleasures he has given to others, 
who can tell? 2 



OLYMPIAN III. 

Inscribed to the same Theron as the foregoing ode, on account of the 
same victory : sung probably at Agri gen turn, at the festival of the 
Theoxenia of the Dioscuri. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 6 : Proemium. The poet prays that his song may be pleasing to the 
Tyndaridse. 6 — 34 : The olive-wreath won by Theron leads to a di- 
gression on the introduction of the olive into the Peloponnesus, brought 
by Heracles from the Hyperboreans. 34 — end : The poet returns to 
the Tyndaridse, who have granted the victory of Theron to the piety 
of his family, the Emmenidag. 

I declare that I shall please a the hospitable Tyndaridse and 
Helen with beautiful locks, by honouring famed Agragas in 

s v. 83 : i. e. as yet not drawn forth. * i. e. the taught. 

u v. 89 : or, keep the bow now pointed to the mark. 

v v. 90 : or, however. w v. 92 : i. e. solemn. 

K v. 96 : or, satiety that never combines with justice loves to attack, &c. 

y v. 97 : or, delighting to excite censure, and to throw a cloud over 
the glorious deeds of the good. 

. 2 v. 100 : or, since the sand mocks at numbering, who can tell how 
many pleasures he (i. e. Theron) has brought to others ? 

a v. 1 : or, according to Diss, I pray that I may please, &c. 



1G OLYMPIAN III. 

having raised aloft the hymn of Olympic victory in honour 
of Theron ; the song in honour of unwearied steeds : so did 
the muse stand by me propitious, when I had invented a new 
and sparkling mode, to adapt to the Dorian rhythm, the voice 
of glorious revelry. b 

Since the wreaths placed on his (Theron's) flowing hair, 
exact of me this divinely-imposed debt, that I should with 
fitting skill blend for the son of iEnesidamus the lyre with 
varied tones, and the loud sound of flutes and well-arranged 
words j c and Pisa exacts a debt of me to sing, d Pisa, I say, 
from which celestial strains flow to men, for whomsoever the 
unerring iEolian judge, the national umpire of Greece, doth 
cast above his eyelids around his locks the grey-coloured 
ornament of olive ; the olive which formerly the son of Am- 
phitryon brought from the shady fountains of Ister, fairest 
memorial of the contests in Olympia ; having persuaded by 
words the Hyperborean race, the worshippers of Apollo, he 
with kindly feelings asked for the thronged e and sacred lawn 
of Zeus a shady plant, common gift to men and the crown 
of valour. For already to him, the altars having been con- 
secrated to his sire, the full moon f in her golden car had 
lighted up opposite to him at evening her full eye ; and he 
{Heracles) had instituted the upright decision of mighty 
games, and the fifth-yearly festival as well, on the hallowed 
craggy banks of Alpheus. 

But the district of Cronian Pelops did not yet grow fair 
trees in its glens : bare of these, the sweet spot seemed to 
him to be subject to? the sharp rays of the sun. So then his 
mind was set, so as to make him go to the Istrian land: 
there Latona's daughter, that driveth the steed, received him 
as he came from the ridges and winding dells of Arcadia, at 
the time when, at the bidding of Eurystheus, necessity im- 
posed by Zeus his sire, urged him 11 to go to bring the hind 
with horns of gold, which formerly Taygeta, having 

* v. 6 : or, the voice that gives splendour to the revel. 

* v. 8 : i.e. poetry, or poetic diction. 
d v. 9 : or, demands that I should praise her. 
c v. 17 : or, all-receiving 1 . 

1 v. 19 : or, the moon which divides the month. 
z v. 24 : i. e. to be exposed to. 
h v. 28 : or, made him ready to go. 



OLYMPIAN IV. 17 

recompense to Orthosian Diana, inscribed as sacred to her. 1 
In pursuit of which, he beheld even that land behind the 
breath of cold Boreas. There fixed, he stood in wonder at 
the trees. Of these sweet desire possessed him to plant some 
around the twelve-times-encircled boundary of the goal. 

And now to this festival he cometh propitious, with the 
godlike twin sons of deep-girded Leda ; for to them he, when 
going to Olympus, gave charge to preside over the wondrous 
strife, both as regards the valour of men, and chariot-driving, 
that whirls the car along. k Me then my soul urges on to say, 
that to the Emmenidre and to Theron glory has come, the 
well-horsed sons of Tyndarus granting it, 1 because of all 
mortals they honour them m with most numerous hospitable 
boards ; with pious disposition observing the solemn rites 
of the blessed ones. 

If water excels among the elements, and gold be the most 
honoured 11 jDrize of wealth, then does Theron, arriving at the 
utmost bound by his virtues, reach by his inborn excellence 
the pillars of Heracles :P what is beyond is inaccessible both 
to wise and foolish : I will not pursue it ; I should surely be 
vain to try. . 



OLYMPIAN IV. 

Inscribed to Psaumis of Camarina, conqueror in the mule-chariot race : 
01. 82, 1. B.C. 452 : sung at Olympia, during the procession to the 
altar of Zeus in the Altis. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 12: Proemium. Invocation of Zeus iEtneus, who had granted the 
victory. 12 — 18 : Prayers for the future success and prosperity of 
Psaurnis. 19 — end : Defence of Psaumis, who, it appears, had 
been made the subject of ridicule on account of his grey hairs. 

O thou mightiest hurler of the thunder unwearied of foot, 
O Zeus, on tliee I call; for the season of thy festival re- 



v. 30 : or, having dedicated. J v. 34 : i. e. the Theoxenia. 



v. 



37 : or, rapid chariot-guiding. 



1 v. 39 : i. e. through their gift. m v. 40 : or, draw near them. 

n v. 42 : cherished or revered. 

° v. 44 : or, by his own resources. p v. 44 : i. e. the furthest point, 
i v. 45 : or, I were vain else, I should lose my labour. 

C 



18 OLYMPIAN IV. 

turning again lias brought me, to the sound of a song 
accompanied with the varied tones of the lyre, to testify of a 
the loftiest games. 

When their hosts are successful, true friends straightway 
rejoice lj at the sweet tidings. 

But, son of Cronus, who holdest -ZEtna, wind-swept 
burden of hundred-headed mighty Typhon, receive for the 
sake of the Charites this festal pomp c in honour of the vic- 
tory at Olympia, as a most lasting lustre of mighty worth. 
For it is Psaumis' chariot procession that comes along, 4 who 
crowned with Pisan olive, seeks to raise renown to Camarina. 
May the Deity be propitious to his e future prayers ! since I 
praise him as very zealous in the rearing of horses, and re- 
joicing in hospitality that receives all, and turned with sin- 
cere purpose to quiet which fosters the state. 

I will not tmge f my theme with falsehood : experience 
verily s is the test of mortals ; experience which freed the son 
of Clymenus (i. e. Erginus) from the contempt of the Lemnian 
women : but winning the race in brazen arms, he said to 
Hypsipyle, when going to receive 11 the crown, " Such a one 
am I for swiftness ! my hands and my heart are alike. And 
there grow, even on youthful men, hoary locks often out of 
the proper time of life." 1 

a v. 3 : i. e. to praise. 

b v. 4 : or, the aor. may signify, not "the quickness of their joy," as I 
have taken it in the text, but its being usual ; " true friends are wont to 
rejoice," &c. c v. 9 : or, choral hymn. 

d v. 10 : or more literally, "For the triumphal procession [icu>[iog] 
advances, being of the cars of Psaumis : i. e. for this is the triumphal 
procession of the victorious car of Psaumis. 

e v. 13 : ? to my future prayers. 

f v. 17 : or stain. 

* v. 18 : perhaps rot here means, " as the proverb says." 

h or, going in quest of. 

1 v. 28 : or, among the youthful often do hoary locks appear, even 
beyond (contrary to, i. e. before) the fitting (reasonable) time of life. 



OLYMPIAN V. 19 



OLYMPIAN Y. 

Inscribed to the same Psaumis, for the same victory : sung at Camarina 
in the procession at the return of Psaumis. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — S : Invocation of Camarina on the return of Psaumis to his native 
town. 9 — 16 : Address to Pallas, protectress of cities. 17 — end : 
Prayer to Zeus, that he would protect the youth of the city Camarina 
and grant a happy close of life to Psaumis. 

Receive, O daughter of Ocean, a with gracious heart this 
hymn, the honour b of lofty achievements and of the crowns 
won at Olyinpia, and the gift of the victorious car of 
Psaiunis ; who, ennobling thy city the nurse of people, hath 
honoured the six double altars at the great festivals of the 
gods with the sacrifice of oxen, and at the five-day contests of 
games, with chariots of horses and mules and with the steed 
that runs single : and on thee has laid a fair glory by his 
victory, and proclaimed by the herald's voice his father 
Acron and thy newly-established seat. 

And coming from the much-loved dwellings of CEnomaus 
and Pelops, c Pallas, protectress of cities, he sings in praise 
of thy holy grove d and the river Oanis, and the lake hard 
b}-, and the sacred channels of the stream, with which Hip- 
pans waters the people, e and unites f quickly a high-grown 
forest of solid buildings, raising from poverty s this town of 
citizens to power. Ever for the sake of the praise of noble 
deeds do toil and expense contend against a deed enveloped 
in danger ; but those who are successful are thought even to 
be wise by their citizens. 

O Saviour Zeus, that dwellest high in the clouds, and 
inhabitest the Cronian hill, and honourest the wide-flowing 
Alpheus, and the holy Idaean cave ! I come, thy suppliant, 
calling upon thee with 11 pipes that utter a Lyclian strain, to 
entreat of thee to embellish this city with a noble race of 

a v. 2 : i. e. Camarina. b v. 1 : i.e. in honour of, &c. 

c i. c. from Olympia. 

d v. 10 : i.e. brings a hymn to be sung in thy honour. 

e v. 12 : i. e. their fields. f v. 13 : i. e. builds. 

« v. 14 : or want. h v. 19 : i. e. with the sound of. 

c2 



20 OLYMPIAN VI. 

men, 1 and that a tranquil old age may bring thee, Olympian 
victor, delighting in the horses of Poseidon, to thy end, with 
thy sons, O Psaumis, standing near theeJ But if any one 
cherishes k honest wealth, having enough of possessions, 1 and 
add thereto fair fame, let him not covet to become a sod. 



OLYMPIAN VI. 

Inscribed to Agesias of Syracuse, of the clan of the Iamidge, victorious 
with the mule-chariot : perhaps 01. 78, 1. B.C. 468 : sung at Stym- 
phalus in Arcadia, probably at a banquet of the Iamidae. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 7 : Proemium. This the poet says must be splendid. 8 — 21 : 
Praises of Agesias. 22 — 70 : Digression on the mythical origin of the 
Iamidse (the ancestors of Agesias), and their prophetic art. 71 — end : 
Eeturns to Agesias and his victories. Exhortation to JEneas, the 
leader of the chorus, to show that the ancient reproach against the 
Boeotians is misapplied, and to sing the praises of Syracuse and 
Ortygia. 

As when we build* a magnificent palace, placing gilded 
columns under the close vestibule of the mansion, so will we 
construct the jwrtafi of this ode : when we commence a work 
Ave should make the facing splendid. If there be one who 
has won at Olympia, and minister too at the oracular altar 
of Zeus in Pisa, and enrolled among the founders of re- 
nowned Syracuse, what praise can that man avoid, if he 
meet with the sweet songs d of unenvying citizens ? Let the 
son of Sostratus know that he has his lucky foot in this 
sandal. 

1 v. 20 : or, with manly virtues. 

j v. 23 : i. e. with thy sons around thee. Or, taking the as before 
$kpuv instead of after it, render " and that thou, a conqueror at Olympia, 
delighting in the horses of Poseidon, mayst lead a tranquil old age to 
thy end, with thy sons, O Psaumis, around thee." 

k v. 23 : i. e. has. 

1 v. 24 : or, being sufficiently supplied with possessions. ? Being 
content with his possessions. 

a v. 2 : sub. Triiyvviitv. 

b v. 3 : sub. 7rp60vpov, the portal or commencement of this ode. 

c v. 3 : or, entablature. 

d v. 7 : i.e. ft he be celebrated in the sweet song's. 



OLYMPIAN VI. 21 

Achievements unaccompanied with danger are honoured, 
neither when performed among men nor in the hollow 
ships ; c but if aught noble be done with toil, many mention 
it. Agesias, for thee the same praise is ready at hand/ 
which, in former time, Adrastus in justice openly pronounced 
upon the seer Amphiaraus, the son of Oecleus, when earth 
had seized upon 8 both him and his white steeds. Then after 
the dead bodies of seven funeral pyres had been consumed, 
the son of Talaus spoke, near Thebes, some such speech as 
this : " I lament the eye of my army, both a good seer, and 
good too to fight with the lance." This too belongs to the 
Sv racusian hero, the lord of the revel. Though neither con- 
tentious nor fond of strife, and having sworn a mighty oath, 
I will yet clearly testify to this for his sake ; and the muses 
with dulcet strain will permit me to do so. 

Come, O Phintis, yoke for me now the strength of mules, 
with all speed, that in the illustrious 11 path of poetry we may 
make the car to go, and I may arrive even at the origin 1 of 
these heroes : for they,J beyond all others, know to lead this 
road, since they won the wreaths in Olympia : therefore to 
them we should throw open the gates of song. To Pitana by 
the ford of the Eurotas must we come to-day betimes — 
Pitana^ who verily, after intercourse with Poseidon, son of 
Cronus, is said to have borne a dark-haired cliild, Evadne. 
But she concealed the unborn child, conceived not in wed- 
lock, by the folds of her garment ; l and on the appointed 
month, sending her attendants, she bade them give the child 
to take care of to the hero the son of Elatus, who ruled the 
Arcadians in Phcesana, and had his lot to dwell on the 
Alpheus : there reared, she first tasted the sweets of love in 
Apollo's arms. 

But she did not for her full time escape the eye of 
./Epytus, trying to conceal the seed of the god ; but he 
departed on his road to Pytho, 111 repressing in his mind with 
acute earnestness wrath unutterable ; departed, I say, to 

e v. 10: i. e. neither by land or sea. 

f Y. 12 : i.e. ready to be paid. e v. 14 : i.e. had swallowed up. 

h v. 23 : KaBapcji. Perhaps better, clear, open, without obstruction. 

1 v. 25 : ancestral stock. J i. e. those mules. 

k v. 29 : i. e. the nvmph Pitana. J y. 31 : or, in her womb. 

m v. 37 : i. e. Delphi. 



-2 OLYMPIAN VI. 

inquire of the oracle concerning this intolerable calamity. 
Meantime she (Evadne), laying aside her girdle woven with 
purple woof, and silver ewer, under dark bushes brought 
forth a boy instinct with divinity. To her the deity of the 
golden locks 11 sent to assist her gentle Ilithyia and the Fates ; 
and from her womb, and from the yearning pang of child- 
birth, came forth Iamus to light at once :° him, distracted 
with grief, she left upon the ground ; and by the decrees of 
the deities, two bright-eyed serpents caring for him,P nourished 
him with the harmless poison of bees. 

But the king, when he arrived, driving his car from stony 
Pytho, inquired of all in his house who might be the child 
that Evadne had borne ; for he asserted that he was bom 
with Phoebus for his sire, and that he would be to the 
dwellers upon earth a seer superior above all mortals, nor 
that ever would his race fail. Thus, indeed, did he declare ; 
but they then avouched not to have seen or heard him, now 
five days born. But he lay hid among the rushes and in 
impervious brakes, covered thickly, as to his delicate body, 
with the yellow and empurpled rays of the wall-flower; 
wherefore she uttered the propitious word i that he should be 
for ever called by this undying name. 

He, when he had received the fruit of golden- crowned 
youth, descending by night into the midst of the Alpheus, 
under the open sky, called upon Poseidon the widely- 
mighty, his ancestor, and the bow-bearing guardian of 
heaven-founded Delos, asking for himself some office 1 useful 
to the people. 53 And the sure paternal voice answered him, 
and addressed him ;* "Arise, my child, come hither, to go u 
to the land common to all, following my voice." 

Then they came to the steep rock of lofty Cronus : there 
the god granted him a double treasure of divination ; 
first to hear the voice that knows not falsehood, and 
next when daring Heracles, noble offspring of the ^Eacida?, 
should found for his father the thronged festival and the 

11 i. e. Apollo. 

° v. 44: i. e. by easy birth. * v. 47 : w, concerned for. 

i v. 56 : or, wherefore she announced the ominous words. 

r v. 60 : or, dignity. 

s v. 60 : i. e. begged the god to grant him some kingly gift. 

* v. 62 : or, came to him." . u v. 63 : that thou mayst go. 



OLYMPIAN VI. Z6 

mightiest law of games, then he (Apollo) commanded him 
(Iamus) to establish an oracle v on the upper part of the 
altar of Zeus. From which time, much renowned through- 
out the Greeks is the race of the Iamidse. Wealth too 
followed ; and honouring worth w they come into a glorious 
path. 1 The deed proves each man wJiat lie is : censure from 
others who are envious overhangs them, on whom, first 
driving round the twelfth coiu-se, the honoured goddess of 
victory sheds a goodly shapeJ 

But if, of a truth, O Agesias, thy maternal grandsires, 2 
dwelling beneath the mountains of Cyllene, have, with 
supplicatory sacrifices, many a time, and with many of them, 
piously gifted Hermes the herald of the gods ; Hermes, who 
rules the games and the lot of the prizes, a and favours 
Arcadia, nurse of heroes, then it is he, son of Sostratus, 
who, with his heavily-thundering father, ordains success to 
thee. 

I fancy I have upon my tongue a sharp-soundiug whet- 
stone, 1 ' which fancy creeps over me willing amongst sweet- 
flowing songs. c 

My grandam was the Stymphalian Metopa with its flowery 
banks/ 1 who bore equestrian Theba, whose pleasant water e I 
drink/ when I weave a varied hymn for warrior heroes : 
urge on now thy choir, O .ZEneas, first to sing aloud of 
Parthenian Here, and then to know? whether in truth we 
escape the ancient reproach, "Boeotian swine !" h For thou 

v v. 70 : perhaps, to sacrifice an offering. 

w v. 72 : •• ? setting a high value on glory." 

x v. 73 : i. e. they have been successful in the public games ; or, they 
became famous. 

7 v. 76 : i. e. whose form the goddess of victory makes more goodly. 

1 i. e. the Arcadians. a v. 79 : or, the fortune of the contests. 

b v. 82 : lit. I have the fancy, or feeling, on my tongue of a sharp- 
sounding whetstone. 

c v. 83 : or, reading 7rpocrL\ic£i, which fancy draws me on, nothing 
loth, to the sweetly-flowing breath of songs. 

d v. Si : i. e. the Stymphalian lakevnth its flowery banks ; or render, 
"the blooming Stymphalian Metopa/' viz. the nymph. Probably the 
poet meant both the nymph and the lake at once, riot distinguishing 
them. e v. 85 : i.e. the fountain Dirce. 

f x.SQ: ? I will drink. 

* v. 89 : or, and next to try, or, and to make known. 

h v. 90 : i. c. let them try whether it be true that, as we say, the 
ancient reproach is no longer applicable- to us. 



2-4 OLYMPIAN VII. 

dost cany my message well/ thou art the interpreter of the 
fair-haired Muses,J the sweet mixing-cup of loudly-sounding 
songs. k 

Bid them too make mention of Syracuse and Ortygia, 
ruling which with upright sceptre, and with his soul intent 
on just deeds, Hiero waits on ruddy-footed Demeter and the 
feast of her daughter borne by snowy steeds and the might of 
iEtnoean Zeus. Him do the sweet-speaking lyres and songs 
acknowledge : may time as it comes on never overthrow his 
bliss ! But, with pleasant welcome. 1 may he receive the 
festal procession of Agesias, that cometh from the walls of 
Stymphalus, from home to home, m leaving the mother of 
fleecy Arcadia. 11 Two anchors are useful to have fastened 
from the swift ship in a stormy night. May the Deity 
propitious grant glorious the lot of these, and of those.P 

Sovereign Lord of the Ocean, grant a direct course free 
from peril to Agesias on his return, thou that art the spouse 
of Amphitrite with the golden distaff, and glorify i the sweet 
bloom of my hymns. 



OLYMPIAN VII. 

Inscribed to Diagoras the Rhodian, victorious in boxing : 01. 79, I - 
B.C. 464 : sung at Ialysus, at a public banquet of the Eratidae. 

ABGUMEST. 

1 — 12 : Proemium. The excellence of poetic praise. 13 — 19 : The 
praises of the victor and his father. 20 — 76 : The ancient legends 
concerning the ancient mythical history of Rhodes ; 1. About Tlepo- 
lemus ; 2. Concerning the Heliadas ; 3. How the island was set apart 
as the portion of Helios. 77 — end : Return to the victories of 
Diagoras, and prayers for his prosperity. 

As when a man, taking from his rich hand a chalice, bub- 
bling within with the juice of the vine, presents it to his 

5 v. 90 : i. e. thou teachest the chorus as I desire. 
J v. 91 : i. e. thou art the herald of their words to others. 
u v. 91 : i.e. thou hast to teach the performers to combine their vocal 
and instrumental powers. 1 v. 98 : or, goodwill. 

m v. 99 : i. e. leaving one home, Stymphalus, for another, Syracuse. 
n v. 100 : i. e. Stymphalus, the metropolis of the country. 
i. e. the Stymphalians. p i. e. the Syracusans. 

•i v. 105 : or, promote, exalt. 



OLYMPIAN VII. 25 

youthful son-in-law, drinking to his health, passing from one 
house to another the golden chalice which is the costliest of 
his possessions, and he honours the glory of the feast and his 
own relation, and in the midst of Ins friends he makes him an 
object of admiration for his happy marriage/ 1 so I too sending 
to victorious heroes the nectar poured forth, the Muses' gift, 
sweet fruit of talent, I cheer them, b sending it, I say, to the 
conquerors at Olympia and at Pytho. 

Happy is he whom good report befalls : one man at one 
time and one at another does life-infusing grace kindly 
regard, along with the lyre and the voiceful instruments 
of the pipes. And now, to the sound of both, I have 
gone to d Rhodes, hymning with Diagoras the ocean Rhodos, 
daughter of Aphrodite and bride of the Sun, that I may 
praise, in recompense for his boxing, both the resolute huge 
hero, who won for himself a crown on Alpheus and Castalia, 
and his father Demagetus, dear to justice ; who inhabit, with 
Argive warriors, the three-citied isle, near the promontory of 
spacious Asia. I shall willingly endeavour for them, from, 
their origin even from Tlepolemus, publicly proclaiming it, 
to raise a common panegyric, viz., for the powerful race of 
Heracles; for on the father's side they boast to be descended 
from Zeus, and partly they are Amyntor's offspring on the 
mother's side, from Astydameia. But round the minds of 
men hang errors numberless, and this is impossible to dis- 
cover, what now and at the end too is best for a man to gain. 
For the settler of this land f in past time, moved with passion,, 

a v. 1 : or, more literally, " as when one (viz. a father) with wealthy 
(? munificent) hand having taken a chalice of solid gold, bubbling within 
with the dew of the vine, then drinking to (pledging) his youthful future 
son-in-law, and honouring his relative, gives it him to bear from home to 
home — the chalice, the costliest of his possessions and the glory of the 
banquet, and so too (so at the same time) amidst attending friends makes 
him envied for his united marriage (union in wedlock), so I too, &c. 

b v. 9 : or, propitiate them. c i. e. poetry. 

(l v. 13 : or, landed at Rhodes. Perhaps it may mean, "I have come 
down to Olympia." 

c v. 23 : i. e. I shall endeavour for them, the powerful race of 
Heracles, commencing from their very origin, even from Tlepolemus, to 
raise a tale of praise common to the whole nation ; or, " I will gladly 
for them, beginning at Tlepolemus, raise in my proclamation a tale of 
praise, common for all the mighty race of Heracles." 

1 v. 30 : L e. Tlepolemus. 



L'b OLYMPIAN VII. 

slew in Tiryns, smiting him with the staff of hard olive, 
Licymnius, the base-born brother of Alcniena, who had come 
from the palace of Midea. But the passions of the soul f lead 
astray even the wise. Having come then to the deity, he 
consulted the oracle : and on him the golden-haired god, from 
his incense-breathing shrine enjoined a straights -voyage from 
the shore of Lerna to the sea-girt district, 11 where formerly 
the mighty monarch of the gods bathed the dwellings of men 1 
with snow-flakes of gold, at the time when, by the art of 
Hephaestus and his brazen-forged axe, at J the summit of her 
father's head, Athene, springing upwards, shouted with an 
exceeding great cry : and Heaven and mother Earth shud- 
dered at her. 

Then, too, the "son of Hyperion, the deity that giveth 
light to mortals, enjoined on his children dear to observe 
the soon -approaching duty, that for this goddess they 
might be the first to establish a splendid altar, and by 
instituting holy sacrifice, might gladden the mind of the 
father, and of the maid that thunders with the spear. Heed 
to the prudent one, k hath spread amongst men 1 courage and 
joy ; m and yet does the cloud of oblivion advance bafflingiy, 
and wrests from the mind the straight path of action. For 
these went up, and the seed of blazing flame they bore not 
with them ; but they founded in the citadel of Lindus a 
sacred lawn, with rites in which no fire was used. On them 
Zeus, bringing a yellow cloud, rained much gold, and the 
goddess of the gleaming eyes herself granted them by their 
excellently-working hands to surpass those who dwell upon 
the earth in every art. Then did the paths bear works re- 
sembling what was alive and moving, 11 and their glory was 
high ; and, to one who knows, skill in art without the aid of 
false tricks is preferable. 

f v. 30 : i. e. fits of passion, s v. 33 : or, direct. h i. e. the island. 

1 v. 34 : or, the land, the country. J i. e. from. 

k v. 44 : attention to the dictates of Prometheus, i. e. the prudent one, 
prudence personified. 

1 v. 44 : i. e. amongst those who heed them. 

m v. 44 : or, " the sense of honour, daughter of prudent foresight, 
produces among men bravery and usefulness in battle." 

n v. 52 : i. e. works which imitated creatures alive and moving were 
to be seen in the streets. 

° v. 53 : i. e. by those who have had experience, or who have learnt, 
skill in art when devoid of false tricks is preferred, viz. to magic arts. 



OLYMPIAN VII. 27 

The ancient legends also of men say, that when Zens and 
the immortals were portioning out the earth, not as yet was 
Rhodos to be seen in the ocean flood, bnt that the island lay- 
hid in the briny depths : nor of Helios, who was absent, did 
any one point out the share ; P and so they left him without a 
portion of land, h'un, the pure god. And for him, when he 
(Helios) had reminded him, Zeus was again about to cast the 
lot ; but hei allowed him not ; since he said, he saw within 
the hoary sea a land rising from the bottom, full of nourish- 
ment for men and kindly for flocks. And forthwith he bade 
golden-tired Lachesis uprear her hands to heaven, r and not to 
utter insincerely the mighty oath of the gods, but with the 
son of Cronus to grant that it, s when raised to the bright air, 
should hereafter be a possession to himself; and the sum of 
his words found their accomplishment, turning out true. 
From the watery sea sprang forth the island, and the genial 
father of the sharp rays of light is lord thereof, he, the com- 
mander of the fire-breathing steeds. 

There with Rhodos having intercourse of yore, he begot 
seven sons, who, in the time of the former race of men, were 
endowed with subtlest skill ; of these one begot Cameirus 
and Ialysus, the eldest of his children, and Lindus ; and they 
ruled separately each his portion of the cities, 1 having divided 
into three parts the land of their sire ; and their seats were 
called by their names. There (in Rhodes) a sweet atonement 11 
of bitter calamity is appointed unto Tlepolemus, the prince of 
the Tirynthians, v as unto a god ; both the steaming sacrifice of 
sheep led in procession and the decision of the contests ; with 
the wreaths of which Diagoras has twice crowned himself, 
and in the renowned Isthmus four times conquering, and in 
Nemea he icon™ one victory after another, x and in rugged 
Athens he icon the same J And the brazen shield 2 in Argos 
acknowledged him, and the works of art a of brass in Arcadia 

p v. 58 : i. e. no one pointed out his lot, or share, to be put into the urn. 

i i. e. Helios. r v. 65 : i. e. in swearing. 

s v. 67 : the island. * v. 76 : viz. those which he had himself built. 

u v. 77 : or, recompense. 

v v. 78 : *. e. is instituted in his honour. w v. 82 : sub. isrefyavdjvaro. 

x v. 82 : i. e. the victory in two consecutive years. 

- v v. 82 : sub. aWav kir' dXXa. 

z v. 84 : i. e. the prize of victory. 

a v. Si : i. e. vessels wrought of brass. 



2S OLYMPIAN VIII. 

and in Thebes, and the regular Boeotian lists and Pellene. 
And in iEgina the lists acknowledged him six times pre- 
vailing : in Megara, too, the pillared record b tells no other 
tale. 

But, O Father Zeus, guardian of the ridges of Atabyrius, 
honour the law of song c in honour of the victory at Olympia, 
and the hero that hath obtained the glory of valour with the 
fist, and grant him reverential esteem both from citizens and 
from strangers ; since he pursues unswervingly a path opposed 
to arrogance, well-instructed in Avhat an upright mind, inhe- 
rited from virtuous forefathers, has given to him. Throw 
not into the shade the common offspring 11 of Callianax. 
Conjoined with the joyous festivals of the Eratidse the city 
too hath festal banquets ; e but in one and the same brief space 
of time the shifting breezes change rapidly. 



OLYMPIAN VIII. 

Inscribed to Alcimedon of -ZEgina, conqueror in the wrestling-match of 
boys : 01. 80, 1. B.C. 460 : sung at Olympia in the procession, after 
the victory, to the altar of Zeus in the Altis. 

AEGUMEXT. 

1 — 14 : Proemium. Dedication of the ode to Olympia. 15 — 20 : The 
poet commences the praises of the victor and his brother Timosthenes. 
21 — 52 : The praise of iEgina for the justice and valour of its inhabi- 
tants. 53 — end : The poet returns to the praises of the victor and his 
trainer, Milesias, and ends with prayers for his prosperity. 

O Olympia, mother of the golden-crowned games, queen of 
truth ! where prophetic men, divining by sacrifices, explore 
the will of Zeus of the bright lightning, if he hath aught to 
tell concerning men who desire in their soul to obtain the 
mighty praise of victory and repose from their toils j and 
there is an accomplishment granted to prayers in return for 
the piety of men. But, O Grove of Pisa, abounding with 
fair trees, on the Alpheus, receive this festal procession and 

b v. 87 : the decree of the stone pillar. 

c v. 88 : i.e. the wonted song. 

d v. 92 : i. e. the offspring connected by one common origin. 

c v. 91 : i. e. the city holds festival when they do so. 



OLYMPIAN VIII. 29 

wearing of the wreath : great truly is his renown whom thy 
glorious meed befalls; hut of blessings different happen to 
different men, and there are many ways of success, with the 
favour of the gods. But thee, Timosthenes, and thy 
brother, destiny assigned to Zeus the tutelary god of thy 
birth, who made thee indeed renowned in Nemea, and hath 
now made Alcimedon, thy b rather, victorious at Olympia 
near the hill of Cronus. And he was fair to behold, and, in 
deeds not disgracing his form, winning in the wrestling- 
match, he proclaimed iEgina that plyeth the long oar to be 
his country. jEgina, where Themis, guardian deity, assessor 
of Zeus the god of strangers, is honoured in a manner be- 
yond what is done by other men. For in that Avhich is 
diversified and which inclines in various ways, to judge 
with upright mind and fairly is a hard task; a but some law 
of the immortals has placed this sea-girt country too b as a 
divinely-appointed protection to stranger-guests of every 
clime (and may future time ne'er be weary of so doing !), this 
country, I say, governed by Dorian race since ^Eacus. 

^Eacus, whom the son of Latona and wide-ruling Poseidon, 
when about to construct a circling bulwark for Ilium, called 
in as their fellow-workman at the wall, because it was fated 
that it c should outbreathe smoke, in the city- wasting battles, 
when wars arose. And silvery snakes, d leaping, three in 
number, to the wall, as soon as it had just been built, two of 
them fell down, and there on the spot bewildered resigned 
their breath ; but one, with a cry of triumph, sprang in ; and 
Apollo, pondering in his mind the prodigy, spake at once 
before them. 

" Pergamus, where thy hands, O hero, have wrought, is to 
be taken ; thus does the omen of the son of Cronus, deeply- 
thundering Zeus, sent by him, speak to me : not without thy 
descendants ; but it shall be conquered in the first and fourth 
generations of thy posterity." Thus, then, the deity, the 
noble child of Latona, having clearly s2^oken, hastened in his 

a v. 25 : i. e. it is a difficult matter to decide with upright mind (or, 
to balance exactly), and " to give to each party the proper proportion of 
that which is of several kinds, and which inclines the scale in different 
ways." b v. 26 : ko.1, i. e. this country as well as Olympia. 

c v. 33 : viv, i. e. orkfyavov. 

d v. 37 : ? snakes with blue or gleaming eyes. 



30 OLYMPIAN VIII. 

car to the Xauthus and the Amazons that love the steed, 
and to the Ister. And the trident-wielder directed his swift 
car to the ocean Isthmus, transporting back .^Eacus hither, e 
on his steeds decked with gold, and to the ridge of Corinth 
he drove, to view tJiere the famous festival. 

And there is nothing pleasant among mortals which will 
be equally so to all ; f but if I have retraced in my song the 
glory of Milesias won among the beardless youths,? let not 
envy aim at me with a rough stone ; for I will alike tell this 
victory 11 at Nemea, and his after-contest gained in the pan- 
cratium of men ; but to instruct is, in truth, easier to him 
that knoweth ; x and it is senseless not to have learned 
before ;J for the minds of the unskilled are frivolous. But 
that man k can further 1 than others declare those means, viz. 
what method 111 shall most advance a hero who is about to 
bear off the much-desired glory from the sacred games. 
Now is Alcimedon, whom lie trained, a glory to him, having 
won the thirtieth victory; 11 Alcimedon, who, favoured by 
the deity, and not wanting courage, has on the limbs of four 
youths, removed from himself p a most hateful return to his 
home, and speech dishonoured and the unnoticed road,°> 
and in his father's father he inspired a vigour able to 
struggle with old age : truly, he who hath been successful r 
forgets the grave. But I must, awakening the memory of 
the past, tell of the victorious glory of the hands of the 

e v. 51 : i.e. to iEgina. 

f v. 53 : i. e. when some are pleased, others will be vexed and envious. 

& v. 54 : i. e. his youthful victory, dvkdpafiov, Qu. " made his glory 
to spring on high." 

h v. 57 : of his, i. e. of Melesias ; that is, tell of his having gained in 
former times the same prize himself which his pupil Alcimedon has just 
now won. 

1 v. 59 : i.e. Milesias can train his pupils well, having in former times 
carried off the prize himself. 

J v. 60 : i.e. before undertaking to teach others. 

k v. 62 : i. e. Milesias. 1 v. 63 :. i. e. better. 

m v. 63 : course of discipline, or training. 

n v. 66 : *. e. of his pupils. 

° v. 68 : i. e. by conquering four youths in wrestling. 

p v. 68 : ina7r£0i7Karothe notion is also conveyed of "laid on them, 
as well as of "removed from himself." — Cook. 

i v. 69 : or, the path of life that shuns observation. 

r v. 73 : i.e. the man who hears tidings that rejoice him, the grand- 
father who hears of his grandson's success. 



OLYMPIAN IX. 31 

Blepsiadae, by whom now the sixth wreath from the leaf- 
bearing contests is worn. The dead, too, have their share in 
the praise paid with customary honours, 55 and the dust does 
not hide the illustrious glory of their kindred.* And Ipliion, 
having heard the joyous news from Proclamation, 11 daughter 
of Hermes, can perchance tell to Callimachus the bright 
honour at Olympia, which Zeus has granted to their race. 
But may he be willing to grant them blessings upon bless- 
ings, and avert bitter diseases ! I pray that he may not, on 
account of their glorious lot, make Nemesis adverse, but, 
bestowing on them a life free from woe, exalt both them and 
then city to honour. 



OLYMPIAN IX. 

Inscribed to Epharmostus of Opus, conqueror in the wrestling-match : 
probably in 01. 81, 1. B.C. 456 : sung by torchlight, in some public 
part of the city, as the victor was returning from crowning the altar 
of Ajax. 



ARGUMENT. 

1 — 20 : Proemium. Praises of Epharmostus and his native city, Opus. 
21 — 41 : Celebration of the gymnastic excellence of Epharmostus, 
which he possesses by the gift of heaven, as did Heracles his mighty 
strength. 41 — 79 : Locrian legends. 80 — end : The poet returns to 
Epharmostus, and celebrates at great length his victories and his 
athletic might. 

The strain of Archilochus sounding forth at Olympia, the 
thrice-repeated cry of victory with loud tones, might have 
sufficed to precede in the triumph Epharmostus and his loved 
compeers, leading the festal procession near the Cronian hill : 
but now, my spirit, -with such shafts as these, a from the far- 
darting bows of the Muses, aim at b Zeus, lord of the crimson 
levin, and the holy }:>romontory f Elis, which once the 
Lydian hero Pelops won, the fairest dower of Hippodameia : 
and send a sweet winged shaft to Delphi : thou wilt not 

3 v. 78 : Kqwofiov epdof-isvov, lit. paid according to rite. 
* v. 80 : i. e. though dead they can feel and know the glory of their 
living posterity. 

u v. 82 : 'AyyeXiac, or, "from Eumour," " Fame." 

a v. 8 : i. e. greater and stronger ones. b v. 6 : or, approach. 



32 OLYMPIAN IX. 

apply thyself to a fruitless theme, c in making the lyre to 
vibrate for the deeds of wrestling of a hero from far-famed 
Opus ; praising her and her son. 

Opus, which Themis and her daughter, all-glorious Eu- 
nomia, preserver of states, possess, and she d blooms in the 
honours of victory, both in Castalia and near the stream of 
the Alpheus, whence the best of garlands magnify the far- 
famed mother of the Locrians with beauteous trees. But I, 
illumining the beloved city with bright songs, swifter than the 
noble steed and winged bark, will send forth this announce- 
ment in every quarter, if with any skill given me by heaven, e I 
tend the choice garden of the Graces ; f for they grant all that 
is delightful. Men become brave and skilful by the gift of 
the gods ; for how else could Heracles have. brandished in his 
hands his club against the trident, when, standing in defence 
of Pylos, Poseidon pressed him hard, and there pressed him 
hard Phoebus also warring with a silver bow ; nor did Hades 
hold unmoved the staff, with which he leads the mortal 
corpses of those that die to their subterranean path. Cast 
this theme, my tongue, far from me ; since to blaspheme the 
gods is a hateful science, and to be loud-tongued out of 
proper season? sounds in harmony with h madness. Babble 
not such things : shun to tell of war and strife among the 
immortals, 1 and direct the tongue to Protogeneia's city (Opus), 
where, by the decree of Zeus, who wields the quivering light- 
ning, Pyrrha and Deucalion coming down together from Par- 
nassus, founded their mansion first, and without marriage- 
union produced the stony race of the same stock, and hence 
they were called LaoiJ Rouse for them k the tuneful breath 1 
of poetry, and praise wine for being old, but the flower of song 
for being new. m They tell that the might of waters had 

c v. 12 : or, strains that come to nought. d i. e. Opus. 

e v. 26 : or, if with at all divinely-implanted art ; or, art naturally en- 
gendered in me. f v. 27 : «'. e. poetry. 

s v. 38 : or, " to indulge in intemperate boasting." — Coohesley. 

h v. 39 : accords with, is like, smacks of. 

1 v. 40 : or, perhaps, shun to tell of war or any contest without the 
sanction of the gods. J v. 46 : people, fr. Xdg, a stone. 

k v. 47 : i. e. for the Opuntians. 

1 v. 47 : o7jj,ov, career, strain. 

m v. 49 : i. e. in other things we praise what is ancient, but in poetry 
what is new and unheard of. 



OLYMPIAN IX. So 

overwhelmed the dark earth, but that the sea-water at 
Zeus' behest suddenly received an ebb. From them were 
your ancestors, bearers of the brazen shield ; being in origin 
sons of women of the race of Iapetus, and, on the fathers side, 
sons of the powerful Cronidse, native kings ever. 

In time past, the Lord of Olympus having carried off the 
daughter of Opus from the land of the Epeans, in quiet had 
intercourse with her on the Msenalian hills, and brought her 
toLocrus, lest the course of time, bringing upon lrim u a death 
reft of offspring, should carry him off. But his spouse bore 
the mighty seed, and the hero was gladdened on seeing his 
adopted son, and called him so that he should bear the same 
name as his maternal grandsire, him I say, a hero beyond de- 
scription great, both in beauty of form and in valiant deeds. 
And he gave him a city and a people to govern : and 
strangers nocked to him both from Argos and from Thebes, 
the Arcadians too, and the men of Pisa. 

But the son of Actor and ./Egina, Mencetius, of the new- 
comers did he especially honour. Jlencetius, whose son, along 
with the Atreidse, having come to the plain of Teuthras, 
stood with Achilles alone, at that time when, having turned 
the warlike Greeks to flight, Telephus attacked their sea- 
beaten sterns, so as to show to those of understanding the 
fierce spirit of Patroclus, so that they should know it, 
Wherefore p the offspring of Thetis exhorted him never to be 
ranged in deadly battle apart from his man-slaying spear. 

Would that I were inventive in poetry, and worthy to 
advance in the Muses' car, and might boldness and great 
power attend me ! But through his friendship and virtue I 
have come to aid the cause of ^ the Isthmian chaplets of Lam- 
promachus, when both upon one day won a contest. Two 
other successes happened to Epharmostus afterwards at the 
gates of Corinth, and others too to him in the vale of Nemea. 
At Argos, also, he won the prize of men, and when a youth 
he won at Athens. And in Marathon, when taken out from 
the boys/ what a contest with the elder men did he endure for 

n i.e. Locrus. 

v. 74 : lit. to him, or, to the man of understanding-. 
p v. 76 : or perhaps rather, "from which time.'' 
q v. 84 : i. e. to honour or praise. 
r v. 89 : i. e. when grown up to man's estate. 
D 



34 OLYMPIAN X. 

the silver vessels ! And having subdued heroes with quick- 
turning art which never fell, he passed through the ring of 
spectators, with what applause ! in the prime of life, and 
fair, and having done the fairest deeds. On another occasion 
was he seen, an object of marvel to the Parrhasian crowd, at 
the time of the solemn assembly of Lycsean Zeus ; and again, 
when he bore off, at Pellene, the warm cure of wintry 
breezes : s the tomb, likewise, of Iolaus, is a supporter of his 
glories, and the sea-washed Eleusis. 1 

Whatever comes by nature is best : yet many among men 
have sought to gain glory by virtues acquired through in- 
struction. But when performed without the deity, each deed 
becomes none the worse when passed over in silence. For 
there are some paths that lead further than others, nor will 
one single pursuit lead us all to honour. Excellences of 
every kind are difficult of attainment ; but bringing forward 11 
this prize of valour, with confidence sound aloud with clear 
voice that this hero marvellously is gifted with strength of 
hand, skilful in linib, with looks that breathe valour, who, 
victorious, has crowned in the feast the altar of Ajax, son of 
Oileus. 



OLYMPIAN X. 

Inscribed to Agesidamus, an Epizephyrian Locrian, conqueror in the 
boxing-match among the boys : probably 01. 74, 1. B.C. 484 : sung 
at Olympia. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 6 : Poetry is needed for the praise of noble deeds. 7 — end : After 
having spoken generally of the utility of songs of triumph, which 
give lasting existence to fame, the poet gradually returns to Agesi- 

' damus, to whom he promises an Epinician hymn. 

At one time is there to men the greatest benefit in a winds : 
and at another time is there the greatest benefit from the waters 
of heaven, daughters of the cloud. But if with toil one be 
successful in the contest, sweet-toned hymns arise as the 

s v. 96 : i. e. the woollen cloak given as the prize. 

1 v. 98 : i. e. they, too, witnessed his victories. 

u v. 108 : i. e. quoting. a v. 1 : or, the greatest use made of. 



OLYMPIAN XL 35 

foundation of future renown, and are the faithful pledge for 
deeds of valour. 

And this praise, which none can envy, b is stored up for 
the victors at Olympia ; which c our tongue desires to foster; 
hut from the Deity alone does a iiian d nourish ever with 
poetic genius. 

Know then, son of Archestratus, Agesidamus, that for 
thy boxing I will sound loudly forth the ornament of a 
sweet strain over thy crown of most precious olive, e showing 
my respect to f the race of Epizephyrian Locrians. Thither 
march on in the revel ; I will vouch, O Muses, that when 
you come to theins you will not come to a race that shunneth 
strangers, nor destitute in the arts of civilized life, but at the 
summit of wisdom, and warlike. For their innate disposition, 
neither can the tawny fox nor the loudly-roaring lions 
change. h 



OLYMPIAN XI. 

Inscribed to the same person as the preceding ode, and to commemorate 
the same victory, but not till many years afterwards ; it appears to 
be a tardy fulfilment of the promise made in that ode, and was sung 
in the native country of the victor, probably at a banquet given, on 
the return of the Olympiad, to commemorate his victory. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 9 : The poet now sends the long-promised ode — a debt that he had 
never forgotten, but which he will now repay with usury. 10 — 24 : 
The subject of the ode itself ; the praises of the Locrians and of 
Agesidamus. 24 — 75 : Mythical tale of the foundation of the 
Olympic games by Heracles. 78 — end : The poet returns to the 
praises of the victor. 

Head to me the name o/*the son of Archestratus who won at 
Olympia, that I may know where in my heart he has been 

b v. 7 : or, which none can say is undeserved. 

c v. 8 : i. e. which praises or songs. d v. 10 : i. e. a poet. 

e v. 13 : i. e. will add the honour of a sweet hymn to the crown of 
olive already won. f v. 15 : i. e. not passing over unpraised. 

s i. e. the Epizephyrian Locrians. 

b v. 21 : i. e. the Epizephyrian Locrians, though dwelling in a distant 
country, have not degenerated from the character of their ancestors, the 
Ozolian and Opuntian Locrians, for shrewdness or for courage. 

d2 



36 OLYMPIAN XL 

written. For being in Lis debt a sweet strain, I have for- 
gotten it. O Muse, and thou too, Truth, child of Zeus, with 
uplifted 11 hand repel from me the reproach of lying that sins 
against my friend. b For the future time of payment having 
approached from afar, d hath made appear shameful my deep 
debt. But, nevertheless, beneficial interest e is able to do 
away with sharp complaint. Now let us see 1 where the 
flowing wave washes down? the rolling pebble, 11 and where, 
so as to do a pleasing favour, we shall pay a common praise. 

For strict justice presides in the city of the Zephyrian 
Locrians, and to them Calliope is dear, and brazen Ares. 

And the Cycnean fight also 1 routed even the mighty 
Heracles, and let Agesidamus, the pugilist, victorious in 
Olympia, pay gratitude to Has, his trainer, as did Patroclus 
to Achilles. And a man having whetted the spirit of one 
born to deeds of virtue, may, with the aid of the Deity, set 
him on his way to extraordinary glory. But without labour 
very few have gained this joy, before all exploits a bright 
happiness to life. 

And this prince of all contests the statutes of Zeus have 
roused me to sing, this contest, I say, which the might of 
Heracles founded near the ancient tomb of Pelops, when he 
slew the noble Cteatus, the son of Poseidon, and he slew 
Eurytus, that of design he might exact of the unwilling 
mighty Augeas the hire due for his service ; for them did 
Heracles, lying in wait under the glades of Cleonse, overcome 
upon the road, because before the haughty sons of Moiion, 
sitting in ambush in the defiles of Elis, had destroyed his 
Tirynthian force. And of a truth the monarch of the 
Epeans, the deceiver of his guest, not long after saw his 
wealthy state sinking into the deep gulf of destruction, 
amidst cruel fire and strokes of the sword. But a contest 

a v. 4 : i. e. threatening ; ? just or upright. 

b v. 6 : or, the reproach of lying that says I have sinned against my 
friend. c v. 7 : or, promised. 

ll v. 7 : Qu. *. e. having long ago past. 
e v. 9 : or, interest with large increase. 
f v. 9 : subaudi CKS\pu>fi(Qa. 
b v. 10 : i. e. will bear away. 

h v. 10 : i. e. where the tide of our praise will tend. 
1 v. 15 : i. e. and Cycnus in battle. 



OLYMPIAN XI. 37 

■with your belters it is impossible to get rid of ;i wherefore 
he too did not avoid sudden death, having at the last through 
Ins folly run in the way of capture. 

The valiant son of Zeus, then, having gathered in Pisa his 
whole army and all his spoil, measured out the hallowed 
lawn for his mightiest sire ; and, when he had made a fence 
all around, he marked out in an open space the Altis, and he 
appointed the plain round about as a place for banqueting, 
and honoured the stream of the Alpheus in conjunction with 
the twelve kingly gods ; k and he called the hill Cronus ; for 
in former times, untitled, whilst (Enomaus reigned, it was 
covered with much snow. 1 And in this initial festival, 111 
the Fates then stood by near at hand, and Time that 
alone declareth genuine truth. And he, n advancing on- 
wards, has demonstrated the plain truth, how that, when 
he had divided them to tlw twelve gods, he sacrificed 
the gifts of war, the first-fruits ; and how that next he 
established the quinquennial festival simultaneously with 
the first Olympian sacrifice, and the games in honour of his 
victory. 

"Who then hath obtained the recent P crown, by hands, 
by feet too, and by the car, with glory having acquired 
for himself victory in the games, having won it in 
the contest 1 1 Running the race on foot, CEonus, 
Licymnius' son, was best in the straight course of the 
stadium : he came from Midea, leading an army ; viz., for 
Heracles : and Echemus was exalting Tegea in the wrest- 
ling ; and Doryclus carried off the prize of boxing, a dweller 
in the city Tiryns : with the four steeds, Semus, son of 
Hahrrhothius, from Mantinea, lore off the jyrize ; and wdth 
the javelin, Phrastor hit the mark. And in distance with 
the stone, Eniceus cast beyond all, whirling his hand round, 
and his military companions raised a mighty uproar. Mean- 

j v. 39 : or, it is impossible to escape the attack of the mighty ones, 
i. e. the deities. 

k v. 49 : i. e. receiving him as one of the twelve gods there worshipped. 

1 v. 51 : i. e. the snow-capped hill in former times bore no title or 
name. m v. 52 : or, original celebration. 

n i. e. Time. ° v. 57 : or, accordingly. 

p v. 60 : or, newly-instituted. 

q v. 64 : or, having proposed to himself in expectation the attainment 
of glory in the games, and having actually obtained it by his exertions. 



OLYMPIAN XI. 

while the lovely light of the briglit-visaged moon lighted up 
the evening ; and the whole sacred precinct echoed with 
jocund songs after the fashion in which a conqueror is 
praised. Following therefore former usage, now too, as an 
honour named after the ennobling victory, we will sing of 
the thunder-clap, and of the fiery dart hurled froni the hand 
of Zeus who rouseth the thunder, the gleaming lightning 
joined to every victory. 1 

The full-sounding melody of our strains shall respond to 
the reed, s — our strains which have appeared at last by the 
glorious fount of Dirce. 

But as a child, born from a wife, is dear to the father that 
hath arrived at the age which is the opposite of youth, and 
greatly warms his soul with love (since wealth that falls to 
a foreign master, alien to his blood, is most hateful to one 
that dieth), so too, O Agesidamus, when a man, after per- 
forming noble deeds without a song,* shall arrive at the 
mansion of Hades, he, I say, having breathed a useless breath, u 
has gained but a brief delight as a reward for all his toil. 
But over thee the sweet-sounding lyre and dulcet flute shed 
grace ; and the Pierides, the daughters of Zeus, foster the 
glory of great deeds, so as to sjDread it wide. 

But I, zealously lending my aid to the work, have em- 
braced v the far-famed land of the Locrians, bedewing the 
heroic city with honied praise ; and I have lauded the lovely 
son of Archestratus, whom I saw winning by the might of 
his hand near the Olympian altar, at that time both fair in 
form and blended with the prime of life ; w — the prime of life, 
I say, which, with the aid of the Cyprus-born, x once averted 
remorseless death from Ganymede. 

r i. e. without which no victory can take place ; inseparable from victory. 
s v. 84 : or, and the fall-sounding melody will answer to the strains 
of the reed. 

1 v. 91 : or, without the honour of a song in return. 

u i. e. having lived uselessly, or, having laboured in vain. 

v v. 98 : i.e. devoted myself to the praise of. 

w v. 104 : i. e. in the midst of his prime. 

x v. 105 : i.e. the Cyprus-born goddess. 



OLYMPIAN XII. 39 



OLYMPIAN XII. 

Inscribed to Ergoteles of Himera, victorious in the long race-course : 
01. 77, 1. B.C. 472 : sung at Himera, apparently in the temple of 
Fortune. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 12 : The poet invokes Fortune for the preservation of the city of 
Himera. 13 — end: He addresses Ergoteles himself, who has ex- 
perienced both good and evil at the hands of the goddess. 

O Saviour Fortune, child of Eleutherian Zeus, a guard, I 
beseech thee, potent Himera. For by thee, in the ocean are 
guided swift ships, and on the land rapid wars and assemblies 
fruitful in counsel ; but the hopes of men are tossed about, 
often aloft and then again down, as they cut the vain sea of 
error, and no one yet of mortal men hath found a sure mark b 
from the Deity concerning a future event ; but of what is 
about to happen the knowledge is blind. And many a thing- 
has fallen out to men contrary to their judgment, the reverse 
of delight i and others, who have met with hostile surges, 
have in a short space exchanged vast good for evil. c 

Surely, too, O son of Philanor, thy mighty strength of foot, 
like that of a dunghill cock/ 1 would, by thy paternal hearth, 
have withered without renown, had not faction, in which 
man is set against man, deprived thee of thy Cnossian native 
land. But now, O Ergoteles, having won the wreath in 
Olympia, and twice Imving carried it off' from Pytho, and 
twice on the Isthmus, thou dost exalt the nymphs' warm 
baths, e dwelling as thou dost on a soil now thine oivn. 

a v. 1 : or, ? of Zeus that gave liberty to Himera. 

b v. 7 : or, method of conjecture. 

c v. 12 : i.e. have gained good instead of evil fortune. 

d v. 11 : lit. a cock that fights at home. 

e v. 19 : i. e. Himera. 



40 OLYMPIAN XIII. 



OLYMPIAN XIII. 

Inscribed to Xenophon of Corinth, victorious in the stadium and the 
quinquertium : 01. 79, 1. B.C. 464 : sung'at Corinth, probably when 
the victor entered the city in solemn procession. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 10 : Proemium. The poet will sing the glories both of the victor's 
family and of his native city. 11 — 46 : The glories of Corinth during 
the historical period. 47 — 92 : The mythical glories of Corinth. 
93 — end : The poet sums up the many victories of the family of the 
OligaethidEe, and prays for their future success. 

Praising the house that has tlirice won at Olympia, the house 
kind to fellow-citizens and attentive to stranger guests, 
I will make known a the wealthy Corinth, the vestibule 
of Isthmian Poseidon, rich in fair youths. For in her 
Eunomia (Good order) dwells, and her sisters, the firm 
pedestal b of cities, Justice and concordant Peace, dispensers of 
wealth to men, golden daughters of Themis, good at counsel ; 
but they are eager to drive away Insolence, the bold-mouthed 
mother of Surfeit. 

Pair things have I to say, and straightforward confidence 
prompts my tongue to speak : and it is impossible to hide 
our native genius. 

And on you, sons of Aletes, have the Hours, rich in 
flowers, oft shed the triumphal glory of those who surpassed 
in the sacred games by their supreme excellence, and often 
in the hearts of men have they implanted quaint inventions ; 
but the glory of everything belongs to the inventor. 
Whence first appeared the festivities of Bacchus with the 
dithyramb that gains the bull as prize % Who added to the 
bridles of the steeds the means of guiding them, or who 
placed the tAvofold king of the birds' 1 on the temples of the 
gods? And therein, e too, the sweetly-breathing Muse 
blooms, and there Ares flourishes with the deadly spears of 
youthful heroes. 

O sovereign, wide-ruling Lord of Olympus, Father Zeus, 

a v. 3 : i.e. celebrate. 

b v. 6 : i.e. support. c v. 17 : or, the credit of the whole work. 

d v. 21 : i. e. the double tympanum of the temple ; called the aikrufia. 
e i. e. in Corinth. 



OLYMPIAN XIII. 41 

mayst thou bear no grudge to what I sing, f and, guiding this 
jjeople unharmed, speed right on the gen^l gale of the 
fortunes of Xenophon, and receive at his hand the law of 
praise 11 for wreaths won, 1 which he brings from the plains of 
Pisa, conqueror in the course of the stadium and in the Pen- 
tathlum ; honours which no mortal man before has yet met 
with j and two wreaths of parsley have crowned him conspi- 
cuous in the Isthmian games ; nor does Nemea set itself 
against him. 

Of his father Thessalus, too, the glory of victory in swift- 
ness remains for ever by the streams of the Alpheus, and at 
Pytho he hath the honour of the stadium and the diauium 
won in a single day, and for him during the same month one 
day of swiftnessJ in rugged Athens placed around his locks 
three most fair crowns of noble deeds, and the Hellotian 
crowns seven times he 'placed around his locks. And in the 
sea-girt customs of Poseidon k longer hymns 1 befel him with 
his father Ptoidorus and Terpsias, and Eritimus. And as to 
how many victories ye Avon in Delphi and in the lion's 
feeding-place, 111 I contend with many 11 concerning the mul- 
titude of their achievements; since I could not learn to 
tell for certain the number of the ocean pebbles. 

In everything there is a measure, and to understand this 
fitting measure is most opportune. And I, in my private 
capacity, having embarked in a common cause, and cele- 
brating the prudence of those of old and their warlike 
exploits, waged in heroic valour, will not speak falsely about P 
Corinth ; praising both Sisyphus, as a god, most wise in 
device, and Medea contracting to herself a marriage in oppo- 
sition to her father, saviour to the ship Argo and its rowers. 
And again too of yore, clothed with might before the walls of 

f v. 25 : i. e. mayst thou grant my vows. 

f v. 28 : or, guardian genius. h v. 29 : i. e. the due praise. 

1 v. 29 : or, receive from him the established choral procession which 
he owes thee for the wreaths. 

j v. 38 : or, one day on which the racers run. 

k v. 40 : or, in the games of Poseidon at the Isthmus. 

1 v. 42 : i.e. hymns which tell of more numerous victories. 

m i. e. jNemea. « i. e. challenge many. 

° v. 45 : i. e. their achievements exceed in number those of many 
others put together. 

p v. 52 : or, stint the praise of. 



42 OLYMPIAN XIII. 

Dardanus, they were thought* on either side to bring to a 
decision the issue of battle ; these on the one side endeavour- 
ing with the loved race of Atreus to recover Helen; those on 
the other side with all their might endeavouring to hinder it ; 
and the Danai dreaded Glaucus who had come from Lycia. To 
them he boasted, that in the city of Pirene was his father's 
empire and rich inheritance and palace ; his fatlier, who en- 
dured very many woes while endeavouring near the springs 1 
to harness Pegasus, son of the snaky Gorgon, before that the 
maiden Pallas brought him the bridle with frontlet of gold — 
from the dream forthwith followed reality — and she cried, 
" Dost thou sleep, royal son of ^Eolus 1 Come, take this 
steed-taming spell, and sacrificing a white s bull, lay it 
before fc thy Danisean sire." The maiden of the dark 
shield seemed to say thus much to him as he slept in the 
night ; and he leapt upright on his feet, and, seizing the 
wonder that lay near him, u he gladly sought the prophet of 
the land, and showed to the son of Cceranus the accomplish- 
ment of the whole matter ; how that he, at his bidding/ at 
the altar of the goddess, reposed during the night, and how 
that the daughter of Zeus, whose lance is the thunderbolt, 
herself gave him the gold that subdues the steed's heart. w 

The prophet bade him forthwith obey the bidding of the 
dream, and when he should sacrifice a bull* a strong-footed 
one, to the mighty encircler of the earth, straightway to raise 
an altar to Hippian Athene. The power of the gods accom- 
plishes the act that is beyond an oath to vouch for, and 
beyond expectation, as an easy matterJ 

In truth the mighty Bellerophon quickly subdued the 
winged steed, applying to his cheek the calming charm, and 
having mounted him, he sportively went through the military 
exercise in full armour. With his aid too of yore, levelling 
his darts at the female archer host of the Amazons, from the 
cavernous depths of the cold 2 empty air, he slew them; and 

i v. 56 : or, they seemed. 

r i. e. at the fountain of Pirene. s v. 69 : ? sleek or shining. 

1 v. 68: or, offer it to. tt v. 73 : i. e. the bridle. 

v v. 76 : or, after having consulted him. w i. e. the golden bridle. 

x v. 81 : lit. draw back the head of, i. e. cut the throat of a bull. 

y v. 84 : i. e. the power of the gods can lightly do what you would 
swear to be impossible and what you could never expect would come to 
pass. z v. 88 : *. e. upper. 



OLYMPIAN xnr. 43 

the Chimera breathing fire, and the Solymi he slew. His 
own fate I will conceal in silence ; but him a in Olympus the 
ancient stalls of Zeus receive. 

But it is right that I, sending straight the whirling flight 
of my darts of poetry, should not hurl most of my javelins 
with my two hands beyond the mark. For, obedient to the 
gloriously-enthroned Muses, I have willingly come to uphold 
the glory of the OHgsethidse for their victories at the Isthmus 
and those in Nemea. And in a brief song will I make innu- 
merable victories to shine conspicuous, and there shall accom- 
pany me b the true, sweet-tongued voice, bound by oath, 
heard sixty times from both spots, of the fortunate herald. 

Their exploits in Olympia seem already to have been 
fittingly sung ere now/ but their future deeds then c will I 
openly declare : but now indeed I hope for more, yet the issue 
rests with the Deity ; but if the tutelar deity of their race 
will continue/ we will give this over to Zeus and Enyalius s 
to accomplish ; as they are tlie 'patrons of tlie Olymyfian and 
Isthmian games. And what on the Parnassian crag, and how 
many in Argos and in Thebes, and how many those which the 
altar that rises in Arcadia, lord of Lycseus, shall bear witness 
to, and Pellene too, and Sicyon, and Megara, and the well- 
fenced grove of the JEacidse, and Eleusis, and brilliant Mara- 
thon, and the wealthy cities under the lofty crest of Etna, 
and Eubcea, all these shall bear witness to their victories. And 
throughout all Greece thou wilt find by inquiring, more h 
than thou canst see at first sight. 

O sovereign Zeus, that granteth success in victories, grant 
them to swim forth from the troubles of life with light feet : 
grant them modesty, 1 and the sweet good-fortune of honours. 

a i. e. the steed. b v. 99 : or, there shall be added. 

c v. 100 : or, better, and in a few words I will make glorious many- 
victories together, and the pleasant voice of the good-sworn herald shall 
be present to me as a true witness sixty times from either place. 

d v. 102 : i. e. above, in the former part of my song. 

e v. 103 : tot, then, i. e. when they shall have been done. 

f or, prosper. e i. e. Ares. 

h v. 113 : i. e. that their victories are more numerous. 

1 v. 115 : or, "respect from the common people." — Don. 



44 OLYMPIAN XIV. 



OLYMPIAN XIY. 

Inscribed to Asopichus of Orchomenus, conqueror in the foot-race of 
boys : 01. 76, 1. B.C. 476 : sung in the temple of the Graces at 
Orchomenus. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 12 : Invocation and praise of the Charites (the Graces). 13 — end : 
The invocation is repeated ; the same goddesses addressed separately 
by name, and entreated to ilook jfavourably on the triumphal pro- 
cession. Echo is besought to bear the tidings of the conqueror's 
victory to his deceased father Cleodamus. 

Ye who dwell in the seat renowned for noble steeds, situated 
by the waters of the Cephisus, O Charites, queens famous in 
song of brilliant Orchomenus, guardians of the Minyse of 
ancient descent, listen, since to you I pray. For with 
your favour a does all that is delightful, all that is sweet, 
befall mortals ; whether one be wise, b or whether fair, or 
renowned for victory in the games. For neither do the 
gods, without the honoured Charites, lead the dances or 
arrange the banquet ; but, arbitresses of all that is wrought 
in heaven, having placed their thrones by the Pythian Apollo 
of the golden bow, they venerate the everlasting honour of 
the Olympian Father. 

O stately Aglaia, and Euphrosyne that lovest the song, 
daughters of the mightiest of the gods, listen to my prayer, 
and thou Thalia, that delightest in melody, beholding this 
rout tripping joyously along, by reason of prosperous fortune ; 
for I have come chanting Asopichus in Lydian harmony c 
and Lydian songs, since owing to thee Minya is victorious at 
Olympia. 

Speed now to the black-walled abode of Persephone, 
O Echo, bearing to his father the glorious tidings ; that, 
beholding there Cleodamus, thou mayst tell him of his son, 
how that for him his son, in the vales of renowned Pisa, hath 
crowned his youthful hair with the plumes d of famous 
contests. 

a v. 5 : at your hands. b v. 7 : skilled in musical art. 

c v. 1 7 : i. e. rhythm. d v. 25 : or, pinions, i. e. v^reaths. 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE PYTHIAN ODES. 



(Extracted from SmitJis Dictionary of Antiquities.) 

Pythian games (Ylvdia), one of the four great national 
festivals of the Greeks. It was celebrated in the neighbour- 
hood of Delphi, anciently called Pytho, in honour of Apollo, 
Artemis, and Leto. The place of this solemnity was the 
Crisscean plain, which for this purpose contained a hippo- 
dronius, or race-course, a stadium of 1,000 feet in length, 
and a theatre in which the musical contests took place. A 
gymnasium, prytaneum, and other buildings of this kind, 
probably existed here, as at Olympia, although they are not 
mentioned. Once the Pythian games were held at Athens 
on the advice of Demetrius Poliorcetes, because ^Etolians were 
in possession of the passes around Delphi. 

The Pythian games were, according to most legends, insti- 
tuted by Apollo himself; other traditions referred them to 
the ancient heroes, such as Amphictyon, Adrastus, Diomedes, 
and others. They were originally, perhaps, nothing more 
than a religious panegyris, occasioned by the oracle of 
Delphi ; and the sacred games are said to have been at first 
only a musical contest, which consisted in singing a hymn in 
honour of the Pythian god, with the accompaniment of the 
cithara. Some of the poets, however, and mythographers 
represent even the gods and the early heroes as engaged in 
gymnastic and equestrian contests at the Pythian games. 
But such statements, numerous as they are, can prove no- 
thing : they are anachronisms, in which late writers were 
fond of indulging. The description of the Pythian games in 



48 INTRODUCTION TO THE 

which Sophocles, in the Electra, makes Orestes take part, 
"belongs to this class. The Pythian games must, on account 
of the celebrity of the Delphic oracle, have become a national 
festival for all the Greeks at a very early period ; and when 
Solon fixed pecuniary rewards for those Athenians who were 
victims in the great national festivals, the Pythian agon 
was undoubtedly included in the number, though it is not 
expressly mentioned. 

Whether gymnastic contests had been performed at the 
Pythian games previous to 01. 47, is uncertain. 

Bockh supposes that these two kinds of games had been 
connected at the Pythia from early times, but that after- 
wards the gymnastic games were neglected : but, however 
this may be, it is certain that about Olympiad 47 they did 
not exist at Delphi. Down to Olympiad 48 the Delphians 
themselves had been the agonothetse at the Pythian games ; 
but in the third year of this Olympiad, when, after the 
Crissoean war, the Amphictyons took the management under 
their care, they naturally became the agonothetse. Some of the 
ancients date the institution of the Pythian games from this 
time, and others say that henceforth they were called Pythian 
games. Owing to their being under the management of 
Amphictyons, they are sometimes called 'Ajityuc-voviKa aOXa. 
From Olympiad 48, 3, the Pythiads were occasionally used 
•as an era, and the first celebration under the Amphictyons 
was the first Pythiad. Pausanias expressly states that in 
this year the original musical contest in Ktdapojdia was ex- 
tended by the addition of ahXtptiia ', i. e. singing with the 
accompaniment of the flute, and by that of flute-playing 
alone. Strabo, in speaking of these innovations, does not 
mention the avXo)hla, but " states that the contest of cithara- 
players (iciOapiarai) was added ; while Pausanias assigns the 
introduction of this contest to the eighth Pythiad. 

One of the musical contests at the Pythian games in which 



PYTHIAN ODES. 49 

only flute and cithara-players took part, was the so-called 
ropoQ ttvOlkoq ; which, at least in subsequent times, con- 
sisted of live parts j viz., avc'iKpovo-ig, a/UTreipa, KaTaKeXeva/ddg, 
'iafiooi kcu cuktvXoi, and crvpiyyec. The whole of this vdfiog 
was a musical description of the fight of Apollo with the 
dragon, and of his victory over the monster. A somewhat 
different account of the parts of this Wjjxoq is given by the 
scholiast on Pindar, and by Pollux. 

Besides these innovations in the musical contests which 
were made in the first Pythiad, such gymnastic and eques- 
trian games as were then customary at Olympia, were either 
revived at Delphi, or introduced for the first time. The 
chariot-race with four horses was not introduced till the 
second Pythiad. Some games on the other hand were 
adopted, which had not yet been practised at Olympia ; 
viz., the caXixoc, and the ciavXog, for boys. In the first 
Pythiad the \ictors received yo^a-a as their prize, but in 
the second a chaplet was established as the reward for 
the victors. The scholiasts on Pindar reckon the first 
Pythiad from this introduction of the chaplet, and their 
system has been followed by most modern chronologers, 
though Pausanias expressly assigns this institution to the 
second Pythiad. The avXySia, winch was introduced in the 
first Pythiad, was omitted at the second, and ever after, as 
only elegies and Qpi)voi had been sung to the flute, which 
were thought too melancholy for this solemnity. The 
rzdpi--oc, or chariot-race with four horses, however, was 
added in the same Pythiad. In the eighth Pythiad (Olym- 
piad 55, 3) the contest in playing the cithara without singing 
was introduced ; in Pythiad 23, the foot-race in arms was 
added ; in Pythia<ol 48, the chariot-race with two full-grown 
horses (crwoipicoQ Spopoc) was performed for the first time ; 
in Pythiad 53, the chariot-race with four foals was intro- 
duced ; in Pythiad 61, the pancratium for boys ; in Pythiad 



50 INTRODUCTION TO THE 

53, the horse-race with foals ; and in Pythiad 69, the chariot- 
race with two foals was introduced. Various musical con- 
tests were also added in the course of time ; and contests in 
tragedy, as well as kfother kinds of poetry, and in recitations 
of historical compositions, are expressly mentioned. Works 
of art, as paintings and sculptures, were exhibited to the 
assembled Greeks, and prizes were awarded to those who 
had produced the finest works. The musical and artistic 
contests were at all 'times the most prominent feature of the 
Pythian games, and in this respect they even excelled the 
Olympic games. 

Previous to Olympiad 48, the Pythian games had been an 
kwasrripiQ ; that is, they had been celebrated at the end 
of every eighth year ; but in Olympiad 48, 3, they became, 
like the Olympia, a Trevraer-npig ; i. e., they were held at the 
end of every fourth year ; and a Pythiad, therefore, ever 
since the time that it was used as an era, comprehended a 
space of four years, commencing with the third year of every 
Olympiad. Others have, in opposition to direct statements, 
inferred from Thucydides that the Pythian games were held 
towards the end of the second year of every Olympiad. 

As for the season of the Pythian games, they were in all 
probability held in the spring, and most writers believe that 
it was held in the month of Bysius, which is supposed to be 
the same as the Attic Munychion. Bockh, however, has 
shown that the games took place in the month of Bucatius, 
which followed after the month of Bysius, and that this 
month must be considered the same as the Attic Muny- 
chion. The games lasted for several days, as is expressly 
mentioned by Sophocles, but we do not know how many. 
When ancient writers speak of the day of the Pythian 
agon, they are probably thinking of the musical agon alone, 
which was the most important part of the games, and pro- 
bably took place on the 7th of Bucatius. It is quite impos- 



PYTHIAN ODES. 51 

Bible to conceive that all the numerous games should have 
taken place on one day. 

The concourse of strangers at the season of this panegyris 
must have been very great, as undoubtedly all the Greeks 
were allowed to attend. The states belonging to the Am- 
phictyony of Delphi had to send their theori in the month 
of Bysius, some time before the commencement of the 
festival itself. All theori sent by the Greeks to Delphi, on 
this occasion, were called TivddicrTai, and the theories sent 
by the Athenians were all particularly brilliant. As regards 
sacrifices, processions, and other solemnities, it may be pre- 
sumed that they resembled, in a great measure, those of 
Glympia. A splendid, though probably in some degree 
fictitious, description of a theoria of Thessalians may be read 
in Heliodorus. 

As to the order in winch the various games were per- 
formed, scarcely anything is known, with the exception of 
some allusions in Pindar, and a few remarks in Plutarch. 
The latter says, that the musical contests preceded the 
gymnastic contests; and from Sophocles, it is clear that 
gymnastic contests preceded the horse and chariot-races. 
Every game, moreover, which was performed by men and 
boys, was always first performed by the latter. 

We have stated above, that down to Olympiad 48, the 
Delphians had the management of the Pythian games ; 
but of the manner in which they were conducted previous 
to that time nothing is known. When they came under the 
care of the Ampliictyons, especial persons were appointed 
for the purpose of conducting the games, and of acting as 
judges. They were called 'E7riju£\r/ra/, and answered to the 
Olympian Hellanodicae. Their number is unknown. In 
later times it was decreed by the Amphictyons, that king 
Pliilip, with the Thessalians and Boeotians, should undertake 
the management of the games ; but afterwards, and even 

e2 



52 INTRODUCTION TO THE PYTHIAN ODES. 

under the Roman emperors, the Aniphictyons again ajDpeared 
in the possession of this privilege. The £7ri/*eA?77-cu had to 
maintain peace and order, and were assisted by /jaffnyofopot, 
who executed any punishment at their command, and thus 
answered to the Olympian aXvrat. The prize given to the 
victors in the Pythian games was, from the time of the 
second Pythiad, a laurel chaplet ; so that they then became 
an oywv arecbavlrrjc, while before they had been aywv ^pr)- 
^arirrjg. In addition to this chaplet, the victor here, as at 
Olympia, received the symbolic palm-branch, and was allowed 
to have his own statue erected in the Crissa?an plain. The 
time when the Pythian games ceased to be solemnized is not 
certain; but they probably lasted as long as the Olympic 
games, i.e. down to the year a.d. 394. In a.d. 191, a 
celebration of the Pythia is mentioned by Philostratus ; and 
in the time of the emperor Julian, they still continued to be 
held, as is manifest from his own words. Pythian games 
of less importance were celebrated in a great many other 
places, where the worship of Apollo was introduced ; and 
the games of Delphi are sometimes distinguished from 
these lesser Pythia by the addition of the words kv AeXcpoic. 
But, as by far the greater number of the lesser Pythia are 
not mentioned in the extant ancient writers, and are only 
known from coins or inscriptions, we shall only give a list 
of the places where they were held : — Ancyra in Galatia, 
Aphrodisias in Caria, Antiochia, Carthae in the island of 
Ceos, Carthage, Cibyra in Phrygia, Delos, Emisa in Syria, 
Hierapolis in Phrygia, Magnesia, Megara, Miletus, ISTeapolis 
in Italy, Mcai in Bithynia, Nicomedia, Pergamus in Mysia, 
Perge in PamphyUa, Perinthus on the Propontis, Philippo- 
Ks in Thrace, Side in Pamphylia, Sicyon, Taba in Caria, 
Thessalonice in Macedonia, in Thrace, Thyatira, and Tralles 
in Lyclia, Tripolis on the Marauder in Caria. 



53 



PYTHIAN I. 



Inscribed to Hiero of iEtna (King Hiero, founder of the town of iEtna), 
victorious in the chariot-race : 01. 76, 3. B.C. 474 : sung probably at 
Syracuse, at a banquet in the palace. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 12 : Proemium on the lyre of Apollo and the Muses, which soothes 
the regal majesty of Zeus and the warlike fury of Ares. 12 — 28 : 
But its sound is hated by the wicked, and by Typho, who lies buried 
under iEtna. 29 — 80 : The praises of Hiero. 81 — end : Admoni- 
tions to Hiero. 

O golden lyre, possession by a common right of Apollo and 
the violet-locked a Muses, which the dancer's step obeys, the 
beginning of the festive triumph, and whose signals the 
singers attend to, when, being made to thrill, thou givest 
forth the preludes of songs that lead the chorus. Thou 
quenchest even the pointed thunderbolt of ever-flowing fire : 
and on the sceptre of Zeus sleeps the eagle, having on either 
side dropped his swift wing, the king of birds ; and a black 
cloud over his beaked head, a cloud the sweet bar of his 
eyelids, thou hast shed ; and he, slumbering, heaves his un- 
dulating back, overpowered by thy vibrations. b For even 
violent Ares, having left behind the hard point of spears, 
soothes his heart with a trance, and thy weapons wound the 
minds even of the gods by c the art of Apollo and the deep- 
zoned Muses. But as many as Zeus does not love, hearing 
the sound of the Pierides, are bewildered/ 1 throughout the 
earth, and the indomitable sea ; and he who lieth in dread 
Tartarus, the foe of the gods, Typho the hundred-headed, 
whom formerly the far-famed Cilician cave reared; now, 
however, the sea-girt steeps above Cyme and Sicily press 
upon his shaggy breast, and the pillar e of heaven confines 
him, snowy iEtna, nurse of sharp snow through *all the year : 
.Etna, from whose recesses purest fountains of unapproachable 
fire belch forth, and her rivers during the daytime, indeed, 
pour forth a lurid stream of smoke, but in the gloom of night 

a or, dark-haired. b v. 10 : or, spell-bound by thy shafts. 

e v. 12 : or, through, by reason of. 

d v. 13 : or, are utterly confounded. e v. 19 : or, prop. 



54 PYTHIAN I. 

a ruddy flame, rolling forth rocks, bears them to the deep 
plain of the ocean, with a crash. But that monster sends 
forth most dread torrents of fire ; a prodigy wonderful to 
gaze at, and a marvel to hear from those who pass by, in 
what way f he is bound by the dark-leaved heights of .ZEtna 
and by its base,s and the bed, h cutting furrows in it, grides 
his whole back, as it lies on the ground. 

May it be mine, O Zeus, may it be mine to please thee, who 
rulest this mountain, forehead of a fruitful land, whose neigh- 
bouring city, named after it, 1 its illustrious founder has ren- 
dered glorious, and in the race-course of the Pythian festival 
the herald announcing it, proclaimed it in behalf of i Hiero, 
victorious in the chariot- race. 

To seafaring men the first and chief blessing is, when they 
begin their voyage, that a favourable breeze should come to 
them for their voyage ; for it is likely k that even a more 
favourable end of return may befall them ; and what I have 
just said 1 induces a belief, that after these so fortunate 
events it m will hereafter be renowned for crowns and horses, 
and of great name amidst sweet-sounding n banquets. 

Lycian Phoebus, king of Delos too, who lovest the Cas- 
talian fountain of Parnassus, mayst thou be pleased to lay up 
these prayers of mine in thy mind, and to love the land that 
abounds with heroes. For from the gods all means of 
accomplishing their attempts are given to human virtues, and 
from them alone and by their favour men are born wise and 
puissant in hand and eloquent. 

And I, bent on praising that hero, trust not to 'cast the 
brazen-pointed javelin beyond the mark as it were, bran- 
dishing it in my hand, but having hurled it far,P to surpass 
my rivals. For may all future time thus direct to him bliss, 

f v. 27 : or, what a monster. 

s v. 27 : or, is confined midway between the dark-shaded tops of 
.^Etna and the plain. 

h v. 28 : i.e. the rough plain of Sicily. 

1 v. 31 : i. e. .^Etna, from the mountain. 

J v. 32 : i. e. in the name of. k v. 34 : or, 'tis as it were an earnest. 

1 v. 35 : or, the truth of the adage. m v. 37 : i. e. ^Etna. 

n v. 38 : or, musical. 
• ° v. 40 : or, would that thou wouldst lay up this omen in thy mind 
and render the land one that abounds with heroes. 

p v. 45 : or, but by a long cast. 



PYTHIAN I. 55 

;ii ul the gift of riches, and afford him forgetfulness of his 
woes. Of a truth it will remind him of what battles he has 
in war sustained with enduring soul, when they found empire 
and honour at the hands of the gods, such as none of the 
Greeks culls, the lordly crown of wealth. Now in truth fol- 
lowing the example of Phil octet es, he has gone to the war ; 
and through necessity a certain one, though haughty-spirited, 
has fawned upon liim that he might be his friend ; and in like 
manner they say, that godlike heroes came to bear away from 
Lemnos the archer son of Pceas, afflicted with the ulcer ; him 
who destroyed the city of Priam, and put an end to the toils 
of the Danai, treading with enfeebled frame, but so it was 
willed by the fates. Just so may the God prosper Hiero for 
the coming time, granting him success in the attainment of 
liis wishes ! 

O Muse, obey me, that thou mayst sing near Dinomenes <l 
the reward 1 " of the four-horsed car ; for the victory of his 
father is no alien joy to him : come, since these things are so, 
let us invent a strain pleasing to the king of ^Etna, s for 
whom Hiero founded that city with heaven-built freedom, 
according to the laws of the Hyllic rule. And surely the 
descendants of Pamphylus, and of the Heracleidse also, who 
dwell beneath the ridges of Taygetus, desire ever to remain 
in the Dorian institutions of ^Egimius : and, blessed with 
prosperity, they possessed Amyclse, issuing forth from Pindus, 
illustrious neighbours of the white-steeded Tyndaridse, the 
glory of whose spear nourished. 

O Zeus, that accomplisheth our prayers, I pray that the 
true report of men* may always award such a lot as this to 
citizens and kings by the waters of the Amenas. u With thy 
aid, indeed, a ruling hero, by himself and by issuing instruc- 
tions to v his son, may respect the people, and so turn 
them to concordant peace. Grant, I beseech thee, Son 
of Cronus, that the Phoenician w and the army x of the 
Tyrsenians, since they have seen the lamentable disgrace of 

q v. 58 : ? in the palace of Dinomenes. r v. 59 : i. e. the praise. 

s v. 60 : i. e. to Dinomenes. * v. 68 : i. e. that the truth. 

u v. 69 : or, that such a lot as this to citizens and kings by the waters 
of the Amenas may prove the words of men true. 

v v. 70 : or, by committing the care of the state to his son. 

w v. 72 : i. e. the Carthaginian. x lit. the war-cry. 



56 PYTHIAN I. 

their ships that befell them before" Syme, may remain in a 
peaceful home : such sufferings they endured, overpowered by 
the leader of the Syracusans, who, from their swift-sailing 
galleys cast their youth into the sea, freeing Greece from 
bitter slavery. 

I will raise from Sal amis the glory of the Athenians, which 
is their due/ and in Sparta I shall celebrate the fight at 
Cithseron, in which the Medes armed with the crooked bow, 
were worsted ; and by the well-watered shore of Himera, 
paying a hymn to the sons of Deinomenes, -which they have 
received on account of their valour, 2 where the hostile heroes 
were defeated. 

If thou shalt have spoken a seasonably, bringing the issues 
of many events together, 1 * less blame from men follows ; for 
weary loathing blunts the eager zeal of the hearers, and fame 
spoken amongst the citizens most of all secretly afflicts the 
minds of the envious at the good that is seen in others. But 
nevertheless, since envy is better than pity, omit not noble 
deeds. Govern thy people with just helm and forge d thy 
tongue on an anvil, free from falsehood ; for if even anything 
trivial falls by chance from thee, it is esteemed as weighty, 
since it proceeds from thee. Thou art the dispenser of many 
things : there are many witnesses to both truth and false- 
hood. 6 

But, abiding in thy goodly temper, if at all thou lovest 
always to hear sweet report/ grow not over-tired in expense ; 
but, like a helmsman, let out the wind-filled sail of liberality : 
be not beguiled, O my friend, by versatile avarice ;B the 
glory of virtue that lives after men alone shows both to his- 
torians and to bards the life of departed heroes. The affable 

y v. 76 : or, with B., I shall receive a reward (tpkojv) for singing of 
the glory of the Athenians at Salamis, and in Sparta, &c. ; otherwise, 
with Dr. D., " I will take upon myself a reward from Salamis for the 
sake of the Athenians, and at Sparta I will tell," &c. 

z v. 80 : or, paying a hymn to the sons of Deinomenes which they have 
deserved for their valour on the well-watered banks of Himera. 

a v. 81 : i.e. praised. 

b v. 82 : or, contracting into brief space the chief of many deeds. 

c v. S6 : or, relax not thy noble aims. d v. 87 : i. e. form. 

e v. 88 : i. e. to observe and note either truth or falsehood in thee. 

f v. 90 : or, fame. 

* v. 92 : or, be not deceived by time-serving arts. 



PYTHIAN II. 57 

and hospitable worth of Croesus fades not away, but hostile 
fame everywhere covers Phalaris, the burner in the brazen 
bull, him of pitiless heart ; nor do the domestic lyres admit 
him as a pleasant companion at the convivial songs of young 
men. 

To be successful is the first of rewards, and to be cele- 
brated by poets is the second lot ; but the man who shall have 
lighted upon and gained both, has received the highest crown 
of felicity. 



PYTHIAN II. 

Inscribed to the same King Hiero, victorious in the chariot-race at 
Thebes : probably in 01. 75, 4. B.C. 477 : sung in Syracuse. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 24 : Address to Syracuse ; the glories of Hiero in war and in the 
public games, and the praise that is his due. 25 — 52 : The tale of the 
crime and punishment of Ixion, illustrating the duty of gratitude and 
the punishment of ingratitude. 52 — 71 : The poet professes his aver- 
sion to slander, and returns to the praise of Hiero for his wealth, 

i power, and courage in war. 72 — end : Hiero is admonished to follow 
the bent of his own upright disposition, and to despise and turn away 
from the slanderous tales of whisperers, flatterers, and backbiters. 

mighty city of Syracuse, sacred field of Ares deeply 
plunged in war, divine nurse of heroes and mail-clad steeds, a 

1 am come bringing to you from splendid Thebes this strain, 
the tidings of the earth-shaking four-horse car, in which 
Hiero victorious-in-the-chariot-race being successful, has 
encircled Ortygia with crowns that shine afar, seat of fluvial 
Artemis, not without whose aid he subdued under his gentle 
hands those colts with broidered reins. For the maiden de- 
lighting in arrows, with both hands, b and Hermes who pre- 
sideth over contests, place on them the brilliant adornment, 
when he d yokes to the polished seat, and to the other parts 
of the car obedient to the reins, the strength of horses, 
invoking the Avielder of the trident, the widely mighty god. 

To other monarchs have other men e paid the tuneful 

a v. 2 : or, horses delighting in war. b v. 9 : i. e. with all zeal. 

c i. e. their reins and trappings. d v. 1 1 : i.e. Hiero. 

c v. 12 : i, e. other bards. 



58 PYTHIAN II. 

hymn, the recompense of their worth. Often, indeed, in 
mention of Cinyras, the praises of the Cyprians resound, 
Ginyras, whom Apollo of the golden hair kindly loved, the 
cherished priest of Aphrodite ; for Idndly-revering gratitude, 
with intention to requite good deeds, leads them on ; and 
thee, O son of Deinomenes, the Zephyrian] Locrian maiden 
sings before her door, by means of thy power looking around 
with security, safe from the remediless woes of war. 

And they say that Ixion, by the commands of the gods 
ever whirled round on the winged wheel, thus speaks f to 
mortals, " that they should requite their benefactor, ap- 
proaching him? with benevolent returns ;" and he h has 
clearly learnt this lesson ; for with the friendly sons of 
Cronus having obtained a sweet life, he was not able to bear 
the huge bliss, when with maddened heart he was enamoured 
of Here, whom the delightful couch of Zeus has obtained ; 
but insolence impelled him to the overweening crime, and 
soon did the man in suffering the just deserts of his crime, 
receive especial woe. Now, too, these two offences are the 
cause of toil to him, in tlie realms below : in the first place, 
because he, the first demigod, brought upon mortals, and that 
not without cunning, kindred blood, and next, too, because 
that once in the spacious chambers of heaven, he attempted 
the spouse of Zeus. It is right that, according to his own 
condition, a man should always keep in view the bounds of 
everything. 1 But a lawless union in time past hurled him to 
great misery, and not unwilling too ; since he lay with a 
cloud, pursuing as he did a sweet fraud, he, unknowing man ! 
for in form it resembled the most eminent of the goddesses 
of heaven, the daughter of Cronus, which the arts of Zeus 
placed as a snare for him, a beauteous ruin. And he wrought J 
for himself the four-spoked bond, his own destruction ; and 
having been thrown into inevitable fetters, he took upon 
himself the message destined for all. k For without the 
Charites, 1 she, the ijhomtom, bore to him a monstrous offspring, 

f v. 21 : i. e. gives this lesson. 

z v. 24 : i. e. repaying him. h i. e. Ixion. 

1 v. 24 : that he should ever keep in view the mean that is suited to 
his own condition. J v. 40 : or, gained. 

k v. 41 : i. e. in his own person he proclaimed the universal warning. 
1 v. 42 : i.e. without their sanction. 



PYTHIAN II. 59 

she alone, it also alone, neither amongst men honoured nor 
where the laws of the gods prevail ; m which she, rearing, 
named Centaur, who with Magnesian mares had intercourse 
on the ankles 11 of Pelion ; and from them sprung a wondrous 
brood, like to both their parents, from their dam inheriting 
the parts below, and the parts above from their sire. 

The deity accomplishes every end according to his wish — 
the deity, that overtakes even the winged eagle and outstrips 
the ocean dolphin, and overthrows one amongst haughty 
mortals, and to others grants unfading glory. 

But me it behoves to avoid p the violent sting of calumnies; 
for I have seen, though far removed,^ the railer Archilochus 
for the most part in great penury, from battening on slan- 
derous enmities ; but to grow rich, by the aid of a happy 
fortune, is the best wisdom. 1 But thou manifestly possessest 
it, s so as to display it with liberal mind, thou prince, lord of 
many fair-crowned streets,* and of a numerous host. But if 
any one now says that any other throughout Hellas of the 
men of former time was superior to thee in wealth and in 
honour, with silly mind he struggles to no purpose. 

But singing loudly of thy valour, I will embark on board 
the fleet crowned with flowers : u to youth valour in dreadful 
wars is an ally; v whence I affirm that thou also hast found 
that boundless glory of thine, at one time contending 
amongst the men that urge on the steed, and at another in 
battles of the infantry ; and thy wisdom in counsel in more 
advanced years affords me safe ground to praise thee with 
regard to every matter. All hail ! w this hymn, after the 
fashion of Phoenician merchandise, is sent across the hoary 
sea; x and the Castorean strain tuned to .^Eolian chords, do 



m v. 4'3 : i. e. honoured neither in earth nor in heaven. 

n v. 46 : i. e. at the foot. ° v. 51 : i. e. many. 

p v. 52 : i. e. abstain from. 

q v. 54 : i. e. though living long after him. 

r v. 56 : or, to be rich conjoined with the lot of wisdom is the best of 
blessings. s v. 57 : ft. e. wealth. 

' v. 58 : i. e. streets or cities well fortified with walls. 

u v. 62 : or, " I will ascend the prow crowned with flowers." 

v v. 64 : i.e. youth is praised for its courage in dreadful war. 

w v. 67 : or, Farewell. 

x v. 68 : i. e. let it be as precious to thee as sea-borne Phoenician 
merchandise. 



GO PYTHIAN II. 

thou willingly look upon on account of the seven-toned lyre,? 
kindly receiving* it. a 

Show thyself to be such as thou naturally art, since thou 
hast learnt what thou art : b the ape is admired among 
boys, ever admired ; c but Rhadamanthus has prospered, d 
because he has obtained the fruit of the mind, which 
none can blame ; e nor with guiles of flattery does he 
delight his soul within, such as always attend upon mortals 
by the arts of whisperers. An insuperable evil to both f are 
the secret tales of slander, altogether like the crafty disposi- 
tions of foxes ; but what so great gain arises in this to the 
wily one?s For, as while the rest of the net is plying the 
marine toil deep in the sea, I remain unwetted by the brine, 
like the cork above the net. h And among the upright it is 
impossible that the crafty citizen should utter an influential 
word : nevertheless, fawning upon all, he in eveiy manner 
tries every twist. 1 I partake not of his impudence. May it 
be mine to love my friend ! but against an enemy I will, as 
an enemy, make a secret attack like a wolf, going now this 
way and now that, in crooked course. 

ror j every form of government the straightforward-speak- 
ing man excels, both in a monarchy, and when the turbulent 
people, and when the intelligent k guard the state. But one 
ought not to contend against the deity, who at one time 
exalts the fortune of these, at another time again gives great 



y v. 70 : or, the Castor ean, &c. &c., that graces the seven-toned lyre. 

2 v. 71 : lit- meeting it. 

a v. 71 : or, but regard with favourable eye the Castoreum set to 
.JEolian harmony, and be present at the recitation of it in honour of the 
seven-stringed lyre. 

b v. 72 : or, as thou hast learnt what kind of man thou art. ever con- 
tinue to be such ; i. e. retain thy upright nature, suffer thyself not to 
be led astray. Qu. show thyself such as thou art by learning, i. e. show 
thyself such ?*s thou hast learnt to be. 

c v. 73 : *. e. flatterers please the young and inexperienced. 

d v. 73 : or, is in Elysium. 

e v. 74 : i. e. perfect wisdom. 



v. /o : i.e. 



to both the hearer and the teller of the calumny. 



z v. 78 : or, to the gainful one, the fox, i. e. the calumniator. 
h v. 80 : i. e. like the cork above the net, while the rest of the tackle 
is sunk deep below the surface, I still remain unwetted by the waves. 
1 v. 82 : i. e. ever employs every cunning art. 
J v. 86 : i. e. under. k v. 88 : Qu. the optimates, or nobles. i 



PYTHIAN III. Gl 

glory to others ; but not even does this l soothe the mind of 
the "envious ; but, dragging at too great a line, 111 they inflict a 
great wound on their own heart before they obtain all that 
they devise in their thought. 11 To bear lightly the yoke 
placed upon the neck profits much ; but to kick against the 
pricks is surely a slippery course. But may it be mine, pleas- 
ing the good, to associate with them. 



PYTHIAN III. 

Insci'ibed to the same King Hiero as the two preceding, twice victorious 
in the single-horse race : in 01. 73, 3 — B.C. 486, and in 01. 74, 3 — 
B.C. 482. The ode was, however, not sent to Syracuse till the anni- 
versary of the victory in 01. 76, 3 — B.C. 474. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 7 : The poet commences with a wish that Chiron, the instructor of 
iEsculapius and the great master of the art of healing, were yet alive. 
8 — 62 : Digression on the tale of Coronis and ^Esculapius. 62 — 79 : 
He returns to, and carries out, the notion of his first wish. 79 — end : 
Advice and moral reflections addressed to Hiero. 

I could wish that Chiron the son of Phillyra, if it were 
permitted for me too as well as others openly a to utter tin's 
common vow, were alive, Chiron I say the deceased, the 
widely-ruling offspring of Cronus, son of Uranus, and that the 
wild centaur ruled in the glens of Pelion, having a mind 
friendly to mortals ; being such still, as he was when formerly 
he bred Asclepius, the gentle artificer of freedom-from-pain 
that strengthens the limbs, b the demigod that wards off all 
kinds of diseases. 

Now, before that the daughter of the equestrian Phlegyas 
had given birth to him, with the aid of Eleithya, the mother- 
tending, she, c after having been vanquished by the golden 

1 v. 90 : the inconstancy and uncertainty of human fortune. 

m v. 91 : i. e. trying to get more than their due share, or, expecting 
too great a reward for their endeavours. 

" v. 92 : i. e. they bring much mortification on themselves before they 
gain the object of their desire. 

v. 96 : Qu. men of rank, the nobles. 

* v. 2 : lit. from my tongue. b v. 6 : i. e. of health. 

c v. 9 : i. e. Coronis, the daughter of Phlegyas. 



62 PYTHIAN III. 

arrows of Artemis in her chamber, descended to the dwelling 
of Hades by the arts of Apollo. For the wrath of the sons 
of Zeus never turns out to be in vain. For she making no 
account of it, in the error of her mind accepted other nup- 
tials, without the knowledge of her father, having before had 
intercourse with Phoebus of the unshorn hair, and bearing 
the divine seed of the god. Nor was she wont to endure the 
coming of the nuptial board, nor the joyful shout of the 
loud-sounding wedding songs, d in such manner as her com- 
panion maidens equals-in-years are wont to e soothe the bride 
with evening serenades ; but of a truth she was enamoured 
of the absent, as many have ere now been affected. For 
there is among men a most foolish race, who disdaining 
things of their own land/ look round for what is remote, 
pursuing idle visions with fruitless hopes. 

The bold fair-robed CoronisS incurred such mighty ruin : 
for she slept in the couch of a stranger who came from 
Arcadia ; nor did she escape the notice of the ever-watching 
one j for happening to be at the victim-receiving Pytho, 
Loxias, lord of the temple, perceived the matter in his most 
direct informant, his mind that knoweth all things ; he, I say, 
having persuaded his understanding; 11 for he lays not hold 
of 1 falsehoods, and neither god nor mortal deceives him by 
deeds or thoughts.J 

And then Phoebus, having perceived the foreign embrace 
and the lawless fraud of Ischys son of Elatus, sent his sister, 
storming with irresistible rage, to Laceria ; since the maiden 
dwelt at the precipices of the Boebian lake : and a hostile 
daemon k having allured her to evil, subdued her ; and many 
of the neighbours hence received destruction, 1 and perished 
along with her ; and the fire which leapt from one spark 

d v. 17 : i.e. she did not endure to be present on such occasions. 

e v. 18 : or, love to soothe, &c. 

i v. 22 : i.e. what is just before their eyes. 

g v. 25 : lit. the high spirit, or mind, of the fair-robed Coronis, i. e. Co- 
ronis herself. 

h v. 28 : i. e. having brought himself, though unwilling, to believe it : 
or, yvwfia ttiQiIjv, trusting to, following the dictates of his judgment. 

1 v. 29 : has nought to do with. 

J v. 30 : i. e. he neither deceives others, nor is deceived himself. 

k v. 34 : i. e. her adverse destiny. 

1 v. 35 : or, many have suffered loss from neighbours. 



PYTHIAN III. G3 

consumed much wood on the mountain. 111 But when her 
relatives placed the maiden on the mound of wood, and the 
furious blaze of Hephaestus surrounded her, then Apollo 
spoke : "I will endure no further in my soul to destroy 11 my 
offspring in a most piteous death, involved in the grievous 
calamity of his mother." Thus he spoke, and at the first 
step having reached the boy, he snatched him from the 
corpse, and the blazing pyre clave asunder for him ; and 
then he bore and gave him to the Magnesian Centaur, to 
teach him how to cure manifold diseases for mortals. Those, 
therefore, as many as came afflicted with self-caused ulcers, or 
wounded as to their limbs, eilJier with gleaming brass or by 
the far-hurled stone, or wasted as to their frame by the sum- 
mer's fire or winter's cold, freeing different persons from 
different pains, he rescued them; tending some with gentle 
charms, and others by drinking soothing potions, or binding 
on all sides round their limbs plasters made from herbs, and 
others by amputation he raised erect from sickness ; but 
even wisdom has been bound by desire of gain, and gold 
shining in the hand, by a magnificent reward induced even 
him to restore from death a man already seized by it : and 
then Zeus, hurling with his hands a bolt through both, 
speedily took away the breath of their breasts, and the flash- 
ing bolt inflicted death. We ought to implore with human 
thoughts p what is suitable from the deities, having come to 
know what is near at hand,^ of what a destiny 1 ' we are. 
Strive not, O my soul, at immortal life, but use to the 
utmost the means within thy power. 

But if the discreet Chiron still inhabited his cave, and if in 
any respect my melodious hymns could have put a spell upon 
his mind, I would in truth have persuaded him even now to 
furnish to good men a healer of feverish diseases, either some 
son of Apollo or of his sire ; and I would have gone in ships 
cleaving the Ionian Sea to [the fountain Arethusa, to my 
iEtnean host, who bears sway at Syracuse, gentle to his 
subjects, entertaining no insidious feeling towards good 

■ v. 37 : i. e. from one woman's fault many met with destruction. 

" v. 31 : i. e. I will proceed no further in the destruction of. 

° v, 44 : or, parted its flames. 

p v. 59 : or, with a mind that befits what is mortal. 

<J v. 60 : i. e. our present condition. r or, state. 



Oi PYTHIAN III. 

citizens, and a marvellous father 8 to strangers. For whom, 
if I had reached the land, bringing two delights, golden 
health and festal procession, bright glory to the wreaths of 
the Pythian victories, which Pherenicus, best in the race, 
formerly won in Cirrha, I assert that, as a light more far- 
shining than a star of heaven, I should have come to him, 
after that I had crossed the deep sea. But I am desirous to 
address my prayer to the mother of the gods, the revered 
goddess, whom, along with Pan, the maidens by my porch 
often celebrate in song by night. 

But if, O Hiero, thou understandest how to read aright 
the recondite sense of legendary tales, thou knowest, being 
instructed, by those of old/ that, for one blessing, the immor- 
tals distribute two evils together for mortals. These more 
numerous evils, however, the foolish are not able to endure 
becomingly, but the good do so endure them, having turned 
their bright side out to view. But the lot of happiness 
accompanies thee. For mighty Fate regards with favour a 
sovereign leader of the people, if it does any man. But a life 
without trip or stumble happened neither to Peleus, son of 
^Eacus, nor to the godlike Cadmus, who verily are said to 
have possessed the highest bliss of mortals, seeing that they 
heard the Muses with the golden frontlet carolling, on the 
mountain and in seven-gated Thebes, when the one wedded 
full-eyed Harmonia, and the other Thetis, the far-famed 
daughter of wise Nereus. And the gods feasted with both, 
and they beheld the kingly sons of Cronus on thrones of 
gold, and received nuptial gifts ; and through the favour of 
Zeus having escaped from former evils, they raised their 
heart erect. But afterwards, however, the one, u did his three 
daughters, by their sharp afflictions, deprive of a portion of 
his happiness ; but father Zeus came to the coveted couch of 
the white-armed Thyone. But the son of the other, v whom 
being an only child the immortal Thetis brought forth in 
Pthia, he, I say having lost his life in war by the bow, called 
forth, when burnt with the funereal fire, wailing from the 
Greeks. But if any one of mortals holdeth in his mind the 
way of truth, w he ought, for that he has obtained them from 

s v. 72 : %. e. patron. * v. 81 : i, e. by former poets. 

u v. 97 : i.e. Cadmus. v v. 100 : Achilles, son of Peleus. 

w v. 103 : i. e. the true and right course of action. 



PYTHIAN IV. 65 

the gods, to enjoy the blessings he has ; but at various times 
various blasts of the soaring winds prevail ; for the bliss of man 
goes not far, x when being of exceeding greatness it descends 
with all its weight. Moderate shall I be in moderate for- 
tune, great in great : I will always honour in my heart 
the fortune that attends me, suiting my temper to it>' 
according to my utmost ability. 

But if the deity should extend to me sumptuous 2 wealth, 
I have hope that I may find lofty glory in future. Nestor 
and Lycian Sarpedon, the common theme of men, a from 
high-sounding verses, such as skilful artificers have framed, 
we know. b Worth by famous strains becometh enduring ; 
but to few is it easy to bring about this for themselves. 



PYTHIAN IV. 

Inscribed to Arcesilaus, king of Cyrene, conqueror in the chariot-race : 
01. 78, 3. B.C. 466 : sung at a banquet in Cyrene. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 5 : Invocation of the Muae to praise Arcesilaus, king of Cyrene. 
5 — 69 : Discussion on the origin of the conqueror's native city ; the 
prophecy of Medea to one of the Argonauts, and the oracle given at 
Delphi to Battus. 69 — 262 : Tale of the expedition of the Argonauts, 
and Jason's agreement with Pelias, the slaying the dragon and carry- 
ing off the fleece. 263 — 299 : Good advice to Arcesilaus, and entreaty 
that Demophilus may be recalled by him from banishment. 

To-day, O Muse, thou must take thy station near a hero 
who is my friend, the king of Cyrene nurse of steeds, that 
with Arcesilaus, as he advances in triumph, thou mayest 
swell a the prosperous gale of hymns due to the children 
of Latona and to Pytho, — 

Where of yore the priestess, who sits near the golden 

x v. 105 : i. e. lasts not long. y v. 109 ; or, paying respect to it. 

a v. 110 : or, luxurious. 

a v. 112 : i.e. celebrated in song and story. 

b v. 112 : i.e. we know Nestor and Sarpedon from the praises that 
poets have bestowed upon them. 

c v. 115 : i.e. few are able to gain for themselves the honour of the 
poet's praise and enduring fame thereby. 

5 or, excite. 

F 



6Q PYTHIAN IV. 

eagles of Zeus, Apollo not being absent from his shrine, 
oracularly pronounced Battus the founder of fruitful Libya ; 
how that forthwith having left the holy island (Them), he 
should found a city famed for cars on a chalky hill, and that 
with the seventeenth generation he should bring to pass 
again the prophetic word of Medea, addressed to Theras, 
which formerly the fiery b child of .ZEetes breathed forth 
from her immortal mouth, queen as she was of the Colchians. 
And thus she spoke to the demi-god sailors of Jason the 
warrior : 

" Hear, O children of daring heroes and of gods ! for I 
declare, that from this sea-beaten earth the daughter of 
Epaphus c shall some day plant a root of cities, d object of 
love to men, in the place where Zeus Amnion e stands. 
And taking in exchange swift steeds for short-finned 
dolphins and reins for oars/ they shall ply the storm-footed 
steeds. For that augury s shall at last bring about that 
Thera be the mother-city of mighty cities ; that augury, I 
say, which late at the mouth of the Tritonian lake, at the 
hands of a god in the form of a man giving earth in token 
of hospitality, Euphemus, having descended from the prow, 
received : and, auspicious for him, Father Zeus son of 
Cronus made the thunder roar ; as upon the ship they were 
hanging the anchor with tooth of brass, the curb of the 
swift Argo. For twelve days before, out of Ocean, we bore 
over the desert ridges of earth the bark, having drawn it up 
on shore by my advice. Then the deity, lone-roving, came 
upon us, having assumed the bright appearance of an august 
man; and he commenceth friendly words, as the hospitable 
first offer refreshment to guests on their arrival; but we 
would not avail ourselves of his hospitality, for the cause 
of a sweet return hindered us from remaining : and 
he said that he was Eurypylus, son of the immortal Earth- 
shaker, 11 and he knew that we were hastening ; therefore, 
immediately snatching the sod of earth which was nearest 

b v. 10 : Qu. inspired. c v. 14 : i. e. Libya. 

d v. 15 : i. e. Cyrene, mother of the Pentapolis. 

e v. 16 : i.e. where the temple of Zeus Amnion stands. 

f v. 17 : i. e. exchanging fishing and naval pursuits for equestrian. 

R v. 19 : i.e. the clod of earth, or the augury derived from it. 

h v. 33 : i. e. Poseidon that encircleth the world. 



PYTHIAN IV. 67 

Mm, he strove to offer it as a gift of hospitality. Nor did 
he h refuse compliance to him, but the hero having leaped 
upon the shore and having stretched his hand to the hand 
of the god, received the heaven-sent clod. But I hear that 
it fell overboard 1 from the sea-washed ship, and was carried 
away by the brine at evening, driven onward by the moist 
ocean. Of a surety often did I urge the labour-lightening 
attendants to guard it ; but their minds forgot. And now 
in this island is shed the imperishable seed of spacious 
Libya before the appointed timeJ For if Euphemus had, at 
his home, cast it near the mouth of subterranean Hades, 
Euphemus, I say, having arrived at sacred Taenarus, he, the 
royal son of Poseidon ruler of the steed, whom formerly 
Europa, daughter of Tityus, bore by the banks of Cephisus, 
had he done so, I say, then his blood in the fourth offspring 
would, along with the Danai, have taken that wide continent. 
For then they shall set out from mighty Lacedaemon, and 
from the Argive gulf, and from Mycense. But now, indeed, k 
he shall find in the bed of foreign women a chosen seed, 
which with the favour of the gods having come to this 
island, shall be parents to a hero, lord of the black-soiled 
plains ; whom, at some future time, in his gold-adomed 
temple, Phoebus shall warn with oracles when he has entered 
the Pythian shrine, that in after time he is to conduct in 
ships many men to the rich precinct of Zeus Nilus." 1 

Of a surety such was the order of Medea's words. m And 
motionless, in dumb amazement, did the godlike heroes 
cower down, hearing the sage counsel. 

O blest son of Polymnestus,, thee, agreeably to this pre- 
diction, the oracle hath ennobled by the spontaneous voice of 
the Delphic bee ; n which having three times bid thee hail, 
j>roclaimed thee destined king of Cyrene, when thou wast 
inquiring what help for impeded speech there shall be from 
the gods. But now many years after, Arcesilaus, the eighth 

h v. 36 : i. e. Euphemus. ' v. 38 : lit. having been submerged. 

i v. 43 : subaudi, xoliereas it ought to have been otherwise. 
k v. 50 : i. e. in the present state of things. 

1 v. 56 : or, according to H. and Don., " to the temple of the son of 
Cronus, i. e. Jupiter Ammon, near the Nile." 

m v. 57 : or, of a surety such wax the lays of Medea. 
n v. 60 : i.e. priestess. 
° v. 64 : i. e. after the oracle was delivered. 
f2 



Q8 PYTHIAN IV. 

portion P to this progeny, flourishes as in the bloom of roseate 
spring; Arcesilaus, I say, to whom Apollo and Pytho have 
granted glory from the race-course of the neighbouring 
states. Him and the all-golden fleece of the ram will I give 
to the Muses to celebrate ; for the Minyae having sailed after 
ih&t fleece, divine honours were won by them. 

What commencement of the voyage awaited them?^ 
What peril held them bound with strong rivets of adamant % 
It was fated that Pelias should die by the hands, or by the 
unflinching 1, plots of the high-born sons of ^Eolus. And the 
prediction fell chill upon his wise soul, uttered near the 
mid-navel of mother earth, clothed with fair woods ; " to 
stand by all means greatly on his guard against the one- 
sandalled man, when, from a lofty abode, he should come to 
the sunny land of the far-famed Iolcos, a stranger, or being 
a citizen." And he, as you might expect, in time came with 
two javelins, a wondrous hero ; and a garment of both kinds 
clothed him ; both the garment, that is to say, used in the 
country of the Magnesians, fitting closely to his wondrous 
limbs, and, on the other hand, he kept off, with a panther's 
skin thrown round him, shivering rains ; nor were the shining 
tresses of his locks shorn and gone, but they floated down 
his whole back. Then, forthwith, advancing straight on- 
ward, he stood, putting to the proof his undaunted soul, in the 
market-place, where the multitude thronged. But him they 
knew not : yet, some one from among the reverently-gazing 
crowd said this amongst other things : " Surely, methinks, this 
is not Apollo, nor, moreover, is it Aphrodite's paramour with 
his brazen car, and they say that in bright Naxos the chil- 
dren of Iphimedia died, Otus and thou, O daring monarch 
Ephialtes. And, moreover, the swift-winged dart of Artemis 
caught Tityus, the dart, I say, rushing forth from her un- 
conquered quiver, that one might learn to seek for lawful 
loves." 

They, indeed, in answer to each other, spoke in such 
fashion : and borne by mules and a polished car, with head- 
long haste Pelias came hurrying; and forthwith he was 
amazed, beholding the readily-recognized sandal solitary 

p v. 65 : or, number. 

q v. 70 : i.e. what origin of the voyage had they ? 

r v. 72 : Qu. not to be repelled. 



PYTHIAN IV. 69 

around his right foot. But disguising his fear in his mind, 
he addressed him : " What land, O stranger, dost thou boast 
to be thy country 1 ? And who of earth-born women sent 
thee forth from her aged womb 1 Declare thy race, polluting 
it not with most odious falsehoods." And him boldly with 
gentle words thus he answered : " I say that I bear with 
me s the instruction of Chiron ; for I come from his cave 
from Chariclo and Philyra, where the pure daughters of the 
centaur reared me. And having accomplished twenty years, 
and having done neither any dishonest action, nor spoken 
any deceitful word to them, I have come to my home, 
endeavouring to recover the ancient kingdom of my father, 
which is now unjustly swayed by another, the kingdom which 
Zeus formerly granted to the chieftain .ZEolus and to his 
children. For I hear that Pelias unjustly, having obeyed 
his envious* soul, violently seized it from my parents, its 
lawful owners ; who, as soon as ever I saw the light, fearing 
the violence of the overbearing ruler, having instituted 
mournful wailing in the palace for me, as having died, 
amidst the wailings of women, sent me secretly in purple 
swaddling-clothes intrusting their journey to the secrecy of 
night, u and gave me to Chiron, son of Cronus, to rear. But 
of these matters know this to be the sum. Now the dwellings 
of my noble v sires, discreet citizens, declare to me clearly ; 
for being the son of iEson and a native, I should not I fancy 
come to a foreign land of aliens. Now the divine centaur 
addressed me by the name of Jason." Thus he spoke ; him, 
indeed, as he entered, the eyes of his father recognized, and 
from his aged eyelids gushed forth tears, since he rejoiced 
in his soul, beholding his distinguished offspring fairest of 
men. 

And to greet them, both the brothers of JEson came at 
the report of his arrival ; first at hand, Pheres, having left 
the fountain Hypersea, and from Messene came Amythaon : 
and quickly came Admetus and Melampus, saluting in 
friendly fashion their cousin. And in the fellowship of the 
feast, Jason, receiving them with mild words, preparing 

s v. 102 : i. e. that I have received. * v. 109 : or, covetous. 

u v. 115: i.e. travelling by night without imparting the matter to 
any one. 

v v. 117 : lit. that ride on white steeds. 



70 PYTHIAN IV. 

a suitable banquet, prolonged all festivity, culling for five 
continuous days and nights the sacred flower w of enjoy- 
ment. But on the sixth laying before them the whole grave 
matter, the hero recounted it from the very beginning to 
his relatives ; and they approved ; and forthwith from the 
banquet he sprung with them. And then they came to 
the palace of Pelias ; and rushing on they took their stand 
within. And hearing them, he himself, the offspring of 
Tyro decked with love-locks, met them ; but Jason, with 
mild voice, distilling x gentle discourse, laid the foundation 
of wise words : — " Son of Petrsean Poseidon, y the minds of 
mortals are too swift to approve of crafty gain before justice, 
though they come nevertheless to a hard reckoning : but 
thee and me it behoveth, ruling our tempers, to weave 
happiness for the future. I speak in truth to one who 
knows : one and the same dam was mother to Cretheus and 
Salmoneus bold in council ; and in the third generation we, 
in turn, begotten from them, behold the golden light of the 
sun. But the Fates turn away in displeasure, if any enmity 
arises among relations, so as to cast into the shade their 
reverence for each other. It becometh not us two with 
swords formed of brass, nor with javelins, to make partition 
of the mighty dominion of our forefathers ; for I give up to 
thee both flocks of sheep and tawny herds of cattle, and all 
the fields which, after taking them from my parents, thou 
grazest, increasing thy wealth; nor does it grieve me that 
these greatly furnish thy house with store of riches. But the 
sovereign sceptre and the throne, on which of yore the son 
of Cretheus sitting, administered justice aright to his eques- 
trian subjects, these, without causing trouble to us both, do 
thou release to us, lest some more grievous evil arise from 
them." 

Thus, then, he spoke : and gently too did Pelias answer 
in return : 

" Such as thou suggestest will I be ; but already the aged 
part of life encompasses me ; but thy flower of youth is just 
swelling up ; and thou hast ability to set aside the wrath of 
the gods of the nether world. Por Phrixus bids some, having 

w v. 130 : or, prime. x or, letting fall, 

y v. 138 : or, Poseidon cleaver of the rocks. 



PYTHIAN IV. 71 

gone to the dwelling-place of iEetes, to rescue 2 his soul and to 
bring the thick-fleeced hide of the ram, by which formerly he 
was saved from the ocean and from the ungodly darts of his 
stepmother. These things doth a wondrous dream that 
came to me declare. And I inquired of the oracle at Castalia, 
if aught was to be further searched after : and the deity 
enjoins upon me to prepare the convoy home for Phrixus by 
a ship. a This toil do thou, nothing loth, accomplish : and on 
such conditions, I swear that I will give up to thee the mo- 
narchy and the kingly power : may Zeus, the tutelar deity of 
the race of both of us, be the mighty witness of the oath !" 

Having agreed to this compact, they indeed parted ; but 
Jason himself now sent forth heralds to make known in every 
quarter the intended voyage. 

And quickly came three sons unwearied in fight, of Zeus 
son of Cronus, and of Alcmena with rapid-glancing eyes, and 
of Leda ; and two heroes with hair that waved high in air, b 
the race of the Earth-shaker, showing a sense of shame in 
their strength, came from Pylos and from the headland of 
Taenarus : whose high fame, and that of Euphemus was con- 
summated in this expedition, and thine too, widely-potent 
Periclymenus. And, sent from Apollo, a harper, father of 
songs, came, renowned Orpheus. And Hermes with wand 
of gold, sent his two sons to unabating toil, the one Echion, 
exulting tvere they in youthful strength, and Eurytus, the 
other. And quickly came on those who dwelt about the 
roots of Pangseus ; for not unwilling, with cheerful spirit, 
Boreas, king of winds, more quickly made ready e Zetes and 
Calais, heroes both, with backs that bristled with purple 
feathers. f And Here kindled the all-persuading, sweet desire 
for the ship Argo in the heroes, that no one, being left 
behind, should remain with his mother, leading a sodden life 
of ease ;S but that, even on condition of death, he should seek 

2 or, bring back from a foreign land. 

* i. e. to prepare to bring back the soul of Phrixus by a ship. 

b v. 172 : Qu. tall, or, long-haired. 

c v. 173 : i. e. checking their strength. Qu. fearing to disgrace their 
valour by remaining at home. 

d v. 179 : or, Qu. shouting aloud in youthful strength. 

e v. 181 : or, urged on. 

f v. 183 : lit. bristling, either of them, as to their backs, with purple 
feathers. ts y. 186 : Qu. ripening an unperilled existence. 



72 PYTHIAN IV. 

to find the fairest remedy for his valour, with the rest of his 
peers. 11 

But when the flower of sailors was gone down to Iolcos, 
Jason, having praised all, numbered them. And then the 
soothsayer Mopsus, divining with auguries from birds and 
sacred lots, with forward soul made the crew embark. 

And when above the prow they hung the anchors, the 
leader having taken in his hands a golden drinking-bowl, 
standing on the stern, called upon 1 Zeus who hurls the 
thunderbolt as a lance, father of the sons of Uranus, and the 
swift-rushing blasts of the winds and the waves, and nights 
and ocean paths,J and auspicious days and wished-for destiny 
of return : k from the clouds a favourable voice of thunder 
sounded in answer, and there came brilliant rays of 
lightning, shooting apart. 1 The heroes took breath again, 
relying on the omens of the Deity, and the seer Mopsus, 
interpreting the augury, commanded them to ply the oars, m 
announcing sweet hopes ; and rowing succeeded 11 from their 
swift hands, unwearied. 

And, conducted on by the breezes of the south wind, they 
came to the mouth of the Axine sea : there they founded a 
holy, sacred-precinct of Poseidon of the Ocean, and a tawny 
herd of Thracian bulls was there at hand, and newly built of 
stones the hollow of an altar's plane. And, being thrown 
into deep danger, they prayed the lord of ships that they 
might escape the irresistible movement of clashing rocks. 
For there were twain endowed with life, and they whirled 
more rapidly than the array of bellowing winds ; but now to 
them that voyage of the demigods brought the close of life.P 

And thereafter they came to the Phasis ; there they fought 
with the swarthy Colchians, close by Metes himself, i And 
the Cyprus-born goddess, mistress of keenest weapons, then 

h v. 187 : or, that with the rest of his peers he should seek to find the 
sweetest zest which virtue gives to death. 

1 or, invoked. J v. 195 : i.e. paths through the ocean by night. 

k v. 196 : i. e. desired return. 

1 v. 198 : or, scattered. 

m v. 201 : tfiGaXelv sc. avroug, to lean upon, or lay themselves to, 
their oars. n v. 202 : or, went on stroke upon stroke. 

° v. 205 : i. e. they found a herd of red Thracian bulls there. 

p v. 211 : i.e. brought death to the Symplegades. 

i v. 213 : i.e. having advanced close up to his city itself. 



PYTHIAN rv. 73 

first brought to men the mottled wryneck, tied on the four- 
spoked wheel, having brought it from Olympus, having bound 
on the indissoluble round the bird that inspires frantic 
passion; and she taught the wise son of ^Eson words of incan- 
tation and charms, in order that he might disarm Medea of 
compunction towards her parents, and that the longing for 
Greece might agitate her, while her heart was inflamed with 
love, with the scourge of desire. And quickly she showed 
him the ways of bringing to a close the toils imposed by her 
sire : and, mingling them with oil, she compounded antidotes 
against stubborn pains, and gave them to him, wherewith 
to anoint himself. And they plighted their troth to join 
sweet mutual marriage with each other. But when ^Eetes 
fixed down the adamantine plough in the midst of them, and 
placed the oxen, which breathed from their yellow jaws flame 
of blazing fire, and with their brazen hoofs, as they moved 
their feet alternately, broke the ground — these he alone, 1 ! 
having brought up, fixed securely to the yoke. And, draw- 
ing out straight furrows, he drove the oxen, and he furrowed 
up r the back of the loamy soil a fathom's depth, s and thus he 
spoke : — 

" This work having accomplished for me, let the king, who- 
ever he be that commandeth the vessel, bear off the imperish- 
able coverlid of the couch, the fleece resplendent with golden 
wool." When then he had thus spoken, Jason having cast 
off his saffron mantle, relying on the god, applied himself to 
the task ; and the fire makes him not to waver, thanks to* 
the injunctions of his hostess skilled in every drug. Drag- 
ging forth the plough, and having bound the necks of the 
oxen with compulsory bonds, u and smiting their strong-ribbed 
body with the terrible goad, the forceful hero accomplished 
the appointed measure of his task : and ^Eetes, though in 
speechless grief, groaned, marvelling at his might ; and to the 
strong hero his companions stretched forth loving hands, and 
covered him with garlands of herblets, and greeted him with 
kind words. 

i v. 227 : i. e. ^Eetes unassisted. 
r v. 228 : ava joined with erxt£f . — Diss 1 . 

■ v. 229 : or, he scored the back of the loamy soil (dvd referred to 
opoyviav) up to a fathom's depth. 

1 or, by reason of, through. tt or, with the gear of compulsion. 



74 FYTHIAX IV. 

And forthwith the wondrous son of Helios pointed out T 
the brilliant hide, where the knives of Phrixus stretched it 
out ; but he hoped that he w would not accomplish for him 
that farther toil, at any rate ; for it lay in a thicket, and it 
was held by the most furious jaws of a dragon, which in 
thickness and in length exceeds a ship with fifty oars, which 
blows of the hammer have perfected. 

It is long for me to return on the beaten track ; for time 
is x closing in ; and I know a certain short path, and am to 
many others a guide of art.y 

He slew indeed by his arts the azure-eyed serpent with 
back of varied hues, O Arcesilaus, and stole away, with her 
own assistance, Medea, her that caused the death of Pelias. 
And they approached 2 to the open floods of Ocean, and to the 
Hed Sea, and to the nation of Lemnian women that slew 
their husbands ; where too in combats they displayed proof 
of their limbs for the prize of a robe, a and lay with them. 
And then in foreign lands the hours of day or night received 
the destined seed of the beam of thy happiness ; b for then the 
race of Euphemus being planted, arose, always to remain ; 
and reaching the dwellings of Lacedaemonian men, in course 
of time they colonized the island once called Callista. And 
thence did the son of Latona bring to pass for you to exalt, 
by the favour of the gods, the plain of Libya ; to you, I say, 
having discovered right-counselling wisdom for governing the 
divine city of golden-throned Cyrene. 

Study to gain the wisdom of (Edipus. c For if one should,* 
with keen axe, hew off the branches of a mighty oak, and 
mar its wondrous form, still, though withered, it gives the 
means of judging of itself, e if haply at last it comes to the 
winter fire ; or if acting as a support in conjunction with other 
straight pillars of the master's house/ it undertakes a mean 
toil in alien walls, leaving its own place desolate. 

* v. 241 : or, told him of. w i. e. Jason. 

x v. 247 : or, runs short. y i. e. of poetical skill. 

* v. 251 : or, came to. a v. 253 : or, without garments. 
b v. 255 : i. e. of thy illustrious fortune. 

c v. 263 : or, learn now the wisdom of (Edipus ; i. e. mayst thou have 
the skill of (Edipus in understanding an enigma. 

d v. 264 : or, though one should. 

e v. 265 : i. e. gives proof of its strength. 

f v. 267 : the meaning is, that it forms one pillar among many ; that 
it unites with others in supporting the house. 



PYTHIAN rv. 75 

Thou art the most opportune healer of the state, and Pcean 
favours thy good fortune. Thou oughtest, therefore, applying 
a gentle hand, to dress the wound of the ulcer ; for to shake 
a city is easy even for the viler sort, but to put it back in its 
place? is difficult indeed, unless the deity on a sudden direct 
the leaders in their course. For thee a happy destiny in 
these respects is woven by the Fates; wlierefore boldly under- 
take in behalf of favoured Cyrene to lay out all thy zeal. 

Amongst other sayings of Homer, this saying too do thou 
hear and diligently observe : " a well-advised messenger," he 
said, " brings most honour to every deed." And the Muse is 
promoted to honour by a message rightly spoken. h Cyrene 
and the most renowned hall of Battus hath by experience 
learnt the justice that dwells in the heart of Demophilus. 
For he, young among youths, but in counsels old, as if he 
had experienced a life of a hundred years, deprives calumny 
of its far-sounding tongue, and has learnt to hate the insolent, 
not striving against the good, nor delaying the accomplish- 
ment of any duty. For opportunity hath but a brief limit 
among men. He hath well understood it ; i and he attends on 
it as a faithful follower, not as a hireling.} 

They say that this is most grievous, when acquainted with 
what is best, to be compelled to be without it. And yet he, k 
an Atlas, now at any rate struggles with Olympus, 1 far from 
his native land and from his possessions. Yet immortal Zeus 
released the Titans ; and in time changes 111 of sails take place 
after the wind has ceased. 11 But he prays, that having seen 
to its end his deadly disease, he may some day see his home ; 
and near Apollo's fountain,P attending at the banquet, often 

& i. e. to restore tranquillity. 

* v. 279 : i. e. when she advises a just and moderate course. 

| v. 287 : scil. rbv Kaipov, the favourable occasion. 

J v. 287 : i.e. he consults the popular will, but with a liberal mind. — 
Diss. Or, in the despatch of business, he does not labour like a slave 
occupied with some low employment. 

k i. e. Demophilus. 

1 v. 289 : i, e. with the grievous biirden of his destiny in being in exile. 

m v. 292 : or, shiftings. 

B v. 293 : i.e. as sailors, when the wind goes down, alter their sails, 
so do thou now, as the danger of sedition has passed away, recall Demo- 
philus to Cyrene. 

° v. 294 : i. e. that having endured exile and all its miseries. 

p v. 294 : i. e. near Cyrene. 



76 PYTHIAN V. 

give himself up to youthful cheer, and amongst the music- 
loving citizens bearing his cunningly wrought lyre, that he 
may enjoy i repose ; and so neither do wrong to any, and him- 
self suffer none from the citizens. And in sooth he may tell 
what a fountain of ambrosial strains he found for Arcesilaus, r 
when lately entertained by me as a guest at Thebes. 



PYTHIAN Y. 

Inscribed to the same Arcesilaus as the preceding ode, and on account of 
the same victory : 01. 78, 3. B.C. 466 : sung at Cyrene, in the 
triumphal procession to the temple of Apollo. The chariot in which 
the victory was won had been consecrated by the charioteer, Carrhotus, 
brother-in-law of Arcesilaus, at Delphi. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 10 : The power of wealth combined with virtue. 11 — 53 : The 
good fortune of Arcesilaus due to the gods and the skill of Carrhotus 
his charioteer. 53 — 97 : Apollo prospers the family of Battus. 
97 — 116 : Conclusion with the praises of Arcesilaus, for whom the 
poet offers his prayers. 

"Wealth is widely potent, when any mortal man obtains it a 
at the gift of fortune ; a greatly-prized companion, when 
conjoined with distinguished virtue. 

O Arcesilaus, blessed by the gods, thou, from the first 
steps of an illustrious life, with glory pursuest after these b 
by the favour of Castor of the golden car, who, after a wintry 
storm, sheds a calm over thy happy house. 

Of a truth the wise bear better even the power that the 
gods bestow ; c but thee, as thou walkest in justice, abun- 
dant prosperity encompasseth : partly because thou art the 
monarch of mighty cities, the native light of thy genius hath 
this most majestic honour given in combination with thy 
wisdom ; and partly thou art blessed in the present, too, 
because having already gained glory by thy steeds from the 
far-famed Pythian games, thou hast received this triumphal 

i v. 296 : lit. touch. 

r v. 299 : i. e. what a promise of future praise for Arcesilaus he has 
found in me. a v. 3 : lit. leads it home. 

b v. 8 : i.e. wealth conjoined with virtue. 
c v. 12 : i. e. even very great good fortune. 



PYTHIAN V. 77 

procession of heroes, the delight of Apollo. Wherefore, 
forget not, when celebrated at Cyrene, round c the sweet 
garden of Aphrodite, to set the Deity indeed over aught 
else, but love Carrhotus most of thy companions ; d who, 
not bringing excuse, daughter of after-thought, late in 
learning wisdom, has come to the mansions of the justly- 
ruling sons of Battus ; but received as a guest at the water 
of Castalia, he, with undamaged reins, has placed around thy 
locks the prize for being first in the chariot-race in the sacred 
spot e of twelve swift courses. For he broke in no way the 
strength of the harness ; but there is suspended as a votive 
offering, all the workmanship of skilful artificers, which he 
brought with him to the hollow plain of the god, after he 
had passed the Crisssean hill ; wherefore the cypress chapel 
holds it close by the statue which the bow-bearing Cretans 
placed in the Parnassian hall ; f the statue consisting of the 
trunk of one tree, formed by natural growth. It behoveth 
thee, therefore, with willing spirit, to go to meet thy bene- 
factor. And thee, Carrhotus, son of Alexibius, the fair- 
haired Charites render famous : and blest art thou, who hast, 
although after great toil, a memorial of highest praise. For 
amongst forty fallen charioteers, having with fearless mind 
brought off thy chariot whole and entire, thou hast now come 
from the famous contests to the plain of Libya, and to thy 
native city. 

But no one is, or ever will be, without share of toils ; and 
yet the ancient good fortune of Battus attends Arcesilaus, 
assigning a variety of blessings, being the city's tower, and 
most; brilliant light [of protection to strangers. From him 
too did the loud-roaring lions fly through fear; since he 
brought to them a voice unheard by them before, that came 
across the sea, and Apollo, leader of the colony, gave the 
beasts up to dread fear, in order that he might not fail to 
make his oracles good to the ruler of Cyrene : Apollo who, 
too, of grievous diseases bestoweth on men and women reme- 
dies, and hath granted also the harp, and imparts the muse 
unto whomsoever he may please, implanting into the heart 

c v. 23 : or in. 

d v. 24 : i. e. next after the Deity, who is the author of all good fortune, 
be sure that thou acknowledge the merit of Carrhotus, thy charioteer. 
e v. 31 : or, hippodrome. f v. 39 : i. e. in the temple at Delphi. 



78 PYTHIAN V. 

love of order averse to war, and ivho guards the prophetic 
cave : wherefore^ he made the valiant sons of Hercules and 
of iEgimius to inhabit in Lacedsemon and in Argos, and in 
divine Pylos. Now they say that my glorious origin is from 
Sparta, sprung from which source there came to Thera the 
race of the ^Egidse, my ancestors, not without the interven- 
tion of the gods ; but some fate brought the festival of many 
victims ; h whence, 1 O Apollo, weJ having received the Carnea, 
celebrate in thy banquet the well-built city of Cyrene. k 
Cyrene, which the Trojan strangers, sons of Antenor, re- 
joicing in brazen arms, possess. For they came with Helen, 
after that they had seen their country burnt to ashes by war : 
and the men whom Aristoteles brought, heartily receive with 
sacrifices and approach with gifts that knightly race ; l Aris- 
toteles, m I say, opening out a deep path over the sea with 
swift ships. 11 And he planted groves of the gods larger than 
he found there, and he laid down the straight-cut, level 
road, paved with stones, so that it could be trodden by the 
horses in the processions in honour of Apollo, that wards off 
diseases from mortals ; the road, I say, from the place where 
he lies buried apart from other sepulchres, at the far end of 
the forum. Blest indeed did he dwell among men, but after- 
wards he has become a hero honoured by the people. But 
apart, before the palaces, the other sacred kings have 
obtained their sepulchre, and they have been besprinkled 
with the refreshing dew of mighty glories,P and with the 
streams of the revel-songs ;i and they hear beneath the 

s v. 65 : or, whereby, i. e. by which oracular power. 

h v. 71 : i. e. the Carnea. i v. 73 : i. e. from Thera. 

J v. 74 : i. e. the ^gidse of Thebes. 

k v. 76 : or, but some fate brought the festival abounding in victims 
to the well-built city of Cyrene, whence we, O Apollo, having received 
the Carnea, celebrate it, i. e. Cyrene, at thy festival ; or, whence, i. e. 
from which festival, we have derived the Carnea, and celebrate them at 
our banquets. 

1 v. 79 : "that knightly race," i. e. the Antenoridse. 

m v. 81 : also called Battus. 

n v. 83 : i. e. the colonists whom Battus brought to Cyrene kindly 
received and worshipped the Antenoridse. 

v. 91 : or, canonized. p v. 92 : or, of their mighty worth. 

i v. 94 : fityaXav b' dptrdv Cpoey fiaXQaicd. pavQtv mwpv 3"' vtto 
Xsvfiaciv. — Bergk. Or, reading with Diss. fitydXa o' dptra cpocy jua\- 
DaKq. pavOtiaa kw^wv vtto x e ^l Jia<JiV > And their great worth is 



PYTHIAN V. 79 

earth their own bliss, and the glory of victory common to 
them with their descendant Arcesilaus, to whom it justly 
belongs : Arcesilaus, I say, whom in this song of the youths 1 
it becomes to celebrate Phoebus of the golden lyre, 9 since he 
has gained from Pytho the sweet hymn which commemorates 
the victory he has won, and is a recompense of the expenses 
he has incurred in the contest : the prudent praise that hero. 

I say what is said by others :* he cherishes 11 an under- 
standing beyond his years, and in speaking and in boldness 
he is as the long-winged eagle among birds ; v and his might 
of contest w is a bulwark to his subjects ; and he soars aloft in 
the studies of the Muses, x even from his mother }7 and he 
hath shown himself to be a skilful charioteer : and all the 
avenues that there are to honour in his native land, these he 
has assayed. And the Deity even now willingly bestows 2 
on him power ; and for the future henceforth, O blessed sons 
of Cronus, grant that he may have it a in deeds and in coun- 
sels, lest the stormy autumnal blast of winds destroy the 
fruits of time. b Assuredly the mighty hand of Zeus steers 
aright the fortune of those whom he loves. I pray that he 
may add this honour in Olympia besides to the race of 
Battus. 

besprinkled with, the refreshing dew of comus-songs amidst the streams 
of poetry ; or, with refreshing dew, amidst the streams of the comus- 
songs. r v. 97 : i. e. in this chorus song. 
8 v. 97 : Qu. of the golden sword. 

* v. 101 : i.e. I say but what all the world knows. 
u v. 103 : i, e. has. 

T v. 105 : i. e. in the courage that public speaking requires, he as 

much excels other men as the eagle excels in flight all other birds. 

w v. 106 : i. e. his might in battle. 

x v. 105 : or, in the arts of the Muses he is borne on pinions. 

7 v. 107 : i.e. from his very infancy. 

* v. 109 : or, assures to him. a v. Ill : i. e. power. 
b v. 113 : or, mar your life. 

* v. 116 : i.e. grant a victory hereafter. 



80 



PYTHIAN YI. 

Inscribed to Xenocrates of Agrigentum, victorious in the chariot-race : 
01. 71, 3. B.C. 494 : the ode is addressed to Thrasybulus, the son of 
\ m Xenocrates, who acted as charioteer for his father on the occasion. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 18 : Address. A store of praise is laid up in the vale of Pytho for 
.the conqueror and his family. 19 — 54 : Thrasybulus, the son of 
Xenocrates, is praised for his filial affection, and is compared to 
Antilochus, son of Nestor : he resembles his father and his uncle in 
wisdom, moderation of spirit, love of the Muses, &c. 

Listen ! for we turn up the glebe either of quick-glancing 
Aphrodite or of the Charites, a proceeding in poetic flight to the 
eternal centre of the loud-echoing earth, b where, celebrating 
Pythian victory for the blest Emmenidae, and for Agragas 
on the river, and especially for Xenocrates, a treasury of 
song, ready prepared, lies encircled by walls, in the golden 
glen of Apollo ; which treasury of song, neither shall the 
fiercely-driving wintry tempest, that is, the relentless host 
of the loud-roaring cloud, nor shall the winds hurl to the 
recesses of the sea, violently up-dashing it with rubbish of 
every kind : d but, with countenance in clear light of heaven, e 
this treasury of song shall announce in reports of men, the 
glorious victory with the car won in the Crisssean winding 
vales, the glory of which is common to thy sire, O Thrasybu- 
lus, and to thy race. Thou, in truth, having obtained the 
victory by setting thy father in the place of honour/ rightly 
observest the precepts as to those points which s they say 
that formerly the son of Philyra on the mountains enjoined 
on the mighty son of Peleus, when parted from his parents ; 
namely, most especially among the gods, to hold in reverence 

a v. 3 : i.e. Listen ! for it is either an amatory or a triumphal ode 
that I am singing. 

b v. 4 : i.e. to Delphi. 

c v. 1 : or, the tempest coming from afar assailing. 

d v. 14 : or, TvirTo^tvov, i. e. it beaten against, destroyed. 

e v. 15 : or, splendid in appearance. 

1 v. 19 : on thy right hand. Qu. by dexterity of hand. 

£ v. 21 : or, by which. 



PYTHIAN VI. 81 

the son of Cronus, the loud-sounding lord of lightnings and 
of thunder; and of this honour 11 never to deprive the life of 
thy parents as long as the Fates may destine it to last. 

And even formerly the mighty Antilochus bore within 1 
this mind, Antilochus, who perished for his father, enduring 
the attack of the man-slaying captain of the Ethiopian 
host, Memnon ; for a steed impeded the chariot of Nestor, 
wounded by the arrows of Paris ; and he-i was hurling his 
strong spear ; and the agitated soul of the Messenian old 
man called loudly on his son, nor in truth did he send forth 
a cry that came to nought, but the godlike man, withstanding 
the attack of Memnon, purchased by his own death the 
rescue of his father, and having performed a mighty deed > 
he was esteemed among the younger men of those of ancient 
days as first in affection towards parents. k 

These tilings indeed are gone by ; but of men of the 
present day Thrasybulus has walked most according to the 
rule of his father, and following his uncle's steps has shown 
forth the splendour of victory} 

And wisely does he administer wealth, culling youth's 
flower without injustice and without pride, and cultivating 
wisdom in the secret haunts of the Pierides ; and to thee, 
Earth-shaker, he devotes himself with very willing 
spirit, from natural disposition for entering into the lists of 
equestrian contests; 111 and the sweetness of his disposition in 
associating with his guests, surpasses the perforated toil of 
bees. n 

h v. 26 : i. e. the assistance and support of thy hand ; or, the placing 
thy father on thy right hand. 

1 v. 28 : i. e. was possessed of, endowed with. J v. 33 : i. e. Memnon. 

k v. 42 : or, he was esteemed by the young men as first, of all who 
lived in olden times, in filial affection. 

1 v. 46 : i.e. oi men of later days, Thrasybulus has in especial shown 
himself pious by his imitation of his father and uncle in their pursuit of 
glory and honour, and by the splendour he has reflected upon them in 
obtaining the victory. 

m v. 50 : i. e. from his inclination to equestrian contests. 

n v. 54 : i. e. is sweeter than honey. 



82 



PYTHIAN VII. 

Inscribed to Megacles of Athens (one of the family of the Alcmaeonidse), 
victor in the chariot-race : 01. 72, 3. B.C. 490. 

AEGUMENT. 

Praise of Athens, the Athenians, and the Alcmaeonidae, the family of 
the conqueror. Envy is deprecated. 

The mighty city of Athens is the fairest prelude upon which 
to lay a basement of song in honour of the widely-powerful 
race of the Alcmseonidse for their steeds. a 

Since what country, what inhabited home can I name in 
Greece more renowned in men's hearing ? b For to all cities 
does the praise of the citizeus of Erechtheus c come, who, O 
Apollo, built in divine Pytho thy wondrous temple. 

And five victories at the Isthmus, and one distinguished 
victory sacred to Jove in Olympia, and two from Cirrha, 
impel me to sing, Megacles; victories, I say, gained by thee 
and thy ancestors. At thy recent victory I rejoice not 
a little, but at that I am grieved, that envy repays d illus- 
trious actions. Yet they say that even thus/ lasting and 
prosperous good fortune brings various events to men. f 

11 v. 4 : i. e. to celebrate their victory with the chariot. 

b v. 8 : or, for what country or what house can I name that lives 
{valovTa) more renowned in the knowledge of Hellas ? lit. for Hellas to 
know. 

c v. 10 : i.e. of the Alcmseonidas. d v. 19 : or, outdoes. 

e v. 20 : or, that still. 

f v. 22 : i. e. brings both envy and respect, good as well as evil things; 
or, according to Boeckh, brings abundance of benefits though even thus, 
t. e. though with envy for its condition. 



83 



PYTHIAN VIII. 

Inscribed to Aristomenes of ^Egina, victor in the wrestling-match, of 
boys : the date of the ode is uncertain, according to Dissen and 
Boeckh, 01. 80, 3. B.C. 458 ; according to Hermann and Donaldson, 
01. 75, 3. B.C. 478, two years after the battle of Salamis, to which, 
and not to the battle of Cecryphalea, they consider the allusions in the 
beginning of the ode to refer : sung probably in ^Egina, during the 
procession to the temple of Hesychia. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 20 : Invocation of Hesychia (Peace or Tranquility). 21 — 60 : Praise 
of Aristomenes, to whom the poet applies the saying of Amphiaraus 
concerning his son Alcmaeon, one of the Epigoni, and interweaves the 
prophecy of Amphiaraus concerning the taking of Thebes. 61 — 100 : 
The various victories of Aristomenes are alluded to : reflections on the 
uncertainty of human prosperity, and the shortness of life. 

O kindly Hesychia, a daughter of Justice, thou that makest 
cities greatest, and hast of wars and of councils the 
supreme keys, receive from Aristomenes honour for the 
Pythian victory. b For thou knowest both how to give and 
receive pleasing gifts at the proper season ; c but thou, when 
any one shall have driven into his heart d relentless wrath, 
roughly opposing the might of foes, castest their insolence 
into the sea. Whom e Porphyrion did not reflect that he 
was unduly provoking. But that gain is the most agreeable, 
which one bears off* from the dwelling of a willing giver ; 
but violence is wont at last to overthrow even the very 
boastful. 

The Cilician hundred-headed Typho did not escape it,& nor 
even the king of the giants ; but they were subdued by the 
thunderbolt and the arrows of Apollo, who, in propitious 
mood has received Aristomenes, the son of Xenarces, arriving 
from Cirrha, crowned with the Parnassian leaf, h and the 
Dorian festal song. 

* v. 1 : Tranquillity, or, Peace. 

b v. 5 : or, " this hymn in honour of a Pythian victory." 
c v. 7 : i. e. how both to grant crowns of victory and to rejoice in 
them when offered thee. d v. 9 : or, conceived. 

e v. 12 : i.e. Hesychia. 
f v. 14 : lit. if one bears it off. 

* v. 16 : i.e. the penalty of violence.' h v. 20 : i. e. the bay leaf. 

62 



84 PYTHIAN VIII. 

And the island ofyEgina, strict in public justice, is not 
estranged from the Graces, touching 1 the renowned virtues of 
the ^Eacidae, but possesses perfect glory from the beginning. 
For she is celebrated in song, in that she hath reared heroes 
highest in many victorious contests and nimble fights, and 
partly tooJ she is distinguished for population. 

But I lack leisure to consecrate to the lyre, and to the 
sweet voice, the whole of the long discourse, lest satiety 
supervening should offend ; but let that which is now present 
before us, thy affair k O youth, the most lately gained of the 
honours of JEgina, be accomplished 1 speedily, furnished with 
wings by means of my art. For in the wrestling-matches 
going after m thy maternal uncles, thou dost not disgrace 
either Theognetus, at Olympia, nor in the victory of Cleito- 
machus gained-by-stoutness-of-limb at the Isthmus ; but, 
exalting the race of the Midylidse, thou carriest off that 
praise which formerly Amphiaraus, the son of Oileus, myste- 
riously uttered, when he saw 11 the sons of the lieroes at seven- 
gated Thebes, bravely standing out the battle, what time 
from Argos came on the second expedition, the Epigoni. 
Thus he spoke, while they were fighting : — " By nature, the 
high-born courage descended from their sires is conspicuous 
in sons. Clearly do I behold Alcmseon, wielding foremost at 
the gates of Cadmus a many-coloured dragon on a fiery 
shield. But he that suffered in the former disaster, Jw, the 
hero Adrastus, is now held by the announcement? of a more 
favourable omen ; but as to domestic matters, he shall fare the 
reverse of this ; for he alone of the host of the Danai, having 
gathered together the bones of his deceased son, shall by the 
favour of the gods arrive with Ins army uninjured to the 
spacious streets of Abas." . Such words did Amphiaraus 
utter ; and with joy will I myself too deck Alcmseon with 
garlands/ and sprinkle him with melody, because he, my 

* v. 24 : i. e. seeing in itself, sharing in. i v. 28 : i. e. and also. 

k v. 33 : i.e. thy achievement, or, thy due ; i. e. the song due to thee, 
O youth. l v. 34 : or, published. 

m v. 35 : or, i^vewv, following on the traces of. 

n v. 39 : Qu. preternaturally saw, or, prophetically foresaw. 

v. 46 : or, gleaming. 

p v. 49 : or, has met with the tidings of, &c. 

i v. 55 : i. e. of Argos, where Abas had reigned. 

T v. 57 : i. e. I, too, will praise him as Amphiaraus did. 



PYTHIAN VIII. 85 

neighbour, and the guardian of my wealth, met me, proceed- 
ing to the navel of the earth, famed in story, and applied 
himself to his family arts of prophecy. 

And thou, Far-darter, ruling the glorious all-receiving 
temple in the dales of Pytho, there didst give the greatest of 
delights : and formerly at home s thou didst bring to him the 
most pleasant gift of victory in the quinquertium, at the fes- 
tival of you two, Apollo and Artemis, and, O king, with 
willing mind I pray thee to look down upon the song,* such 
as I sing u concerning each several conqueror. Near our 
harmonious revel, v justice indeed takes her stand ; but still I 
entreat the increasing care of the gods, O Xenarces, for the 
fortunes of thy house. 

For if any man obtain praises x with but slight toil, to 
many he seems wise among fools,y and to maintain z Ins life 
by prudent devices ; a but these things lie not in the power of 
men, but Providence grants them ; b which at one time exalts 
one man on high, and then again brings down another, so 
that he is beneath the level of his c hands. 

And at Megara thou hast the prize of victory, and in 
the recess of Marathon; and the games in honour of Juno 
peculiar to the country d by three victories thou didst win by 
valiant toil, O Aristomenes. And on four bodies e thou didst 
rush from above, with hostile intent/ to whom neither was a 
gladsome return alike as it was to thee decreed at the Pythian 
games, nor when they had come back to their mother, did 
the sweet laugh of those around excite their joy ; but in the 
by-lanes, in fearful suspense about their foes,s they cower, 

8 v. 65 : i. e. in iEgina. 

* v. 67 : or, to look propitiously upon the song dedicated to thee. 

u v. 69 : or, follow up, go through. 

T v. 70 : or, triumphal hymn. x v. 70 : or, prosperity. 

y v. 74 : i.e. to be wise in comparison with the un wiser crowd. 

2 v. 74 : i. e. he seems to be one who can furnish, or, maintain. 

a v. 75 : or, it may be rendered, and more neatly, he seems to many, 
like a wise man among fools, to arm his life with devices of right 
counsel. b v. 76 : i. e. they are the gift of fortune. 

c v. 78 : i. e. Providence's or Fortune's hands ; i. e. which then again 
depresses another to the ground. 

d v. 79 : i. e. the Heraa at Argos. 

e v. 81 : or, persons, i. e. adversaries. 

f v. 82: or, "thou didst fall over four antagonists, as their adver- 
sary." — CooJc. s v. 86 : i. e. avoiding their foes with fearful mind. 



86 PYTHIAN IX. 

pierced through or tortured by their calamity. But he who 
has obtained some lately-won glory during his tender years, 
excited by the great hope now before him, is borne aloft by the 
soaring spirit of his courage, having a care h superior to 
riches. 1 

In brief period does the happiness of mortals increase ; and 
so too does it fall to the ground, shaken by the sternJ decree 
of the deity. Creatures of a day! What are we? What are 
we not ? k Man is but the dream of a shadow. But yet 
when heaven-sent glory comes, brilliant light is present to 
mortals, and gentle life. 

O .ZEgina, mother dear of thy race, for a free people do 
thou preserve 1 this city with Zeus, and with king JSacus, 
and Peleus, and valiant Telamon, and with Achilles. 



PYTHIAN IX. 

Inscribed to Telesicrates (son of Carneades), victorious in the armed foot- 
race : 01. 15, 3. B.C. 478 : the ode was written and sung before the 
victor's return to Cyrene, probably at Thebes. 

AEGUMENT. 

— 5 : Proclamation of the praise of Telesicrates. 5 — 70 : From the 
subject of Cyrene, the native place of the conqueror, the poet digresses 
to the tale of the marriage of" Apollo and the nymph that gave her 
name to the colony, and the birth of Aristseus. 71 — 103 : Praise of 
the conqueror, and short digression about Iolaus, who is brought 
forward as an instance of prudent observation of proper opportunity. 
103 — 125 : Tale of Alexidamus, an ancient Cyrenian, and ancestor of 
Telesicrates, who won a Libyan maiden of Irasa as wife, by swiftness 
of foot. 

Fain would I, proclaiming 3 him, sing with the aid of the 
deep-waisted Charites Telesicrates, the conqueror at Pytho, 
bearer of the brazen shield, wealthy hero, glory of Cyrene that 
drives the steed ; Cyrene^ whom formerly the son of Latona 

h v. 91 : i.e. a, desire to excel in the games. 

1 v. 92 : i.e. despising them and not sparing them in his desire to 
obtain the prize. ■» v. 94 : or, hostile. 

k v. 95 : or, what is the great man ? what is the poor man ? 
1 v. 99 : or, save. * v. 2 : or, commemorating. 

b i. e. tlte nymph Cyrene. 



PYTHIAN IX. 87 

with long-flowing hair bore away from the wind-echoing 
glens of Pelion, and he brought in his golden chariot the 
huntress maiden to tlmt place where he appointed her mistress 
of the land abounding in flocks and rich in fruits, so as to 
inhabit the third much-loved and blooming root of the con- 
tinent. And silver-footed Aphrodite received the Delian 
stranger from his heaven-builfc chariot, laying hold of it with 
her aiding hand, d and upon their sweet nuptial couch she 
shed lovely reserve, uniting the bond of mutual wedlock 
entered into by the God and the daughter of powerful 
Hypseus. Hypseus, who at that time was king of the mighty 
Lapithae, by descent the second hero from Oceanus ; whom 
formerly, in the renowned dales of Pindus, the Naid Creusa 
daughter of Gaia, rejoicing in the bed of Peneus, brought 
forth. Now he e reared his fair-armed daughter Cyrene : she 
indeed loved neither the to-and-fro-walking paths of the 
loom, f nor the pleasures of festivities with her companions 
that remained at home, but with brazen darts and with the 
sword fighting she slaughtered wild beasts; giving, of a 
truth, much and tranquil security to her father's herds, and 
spending s sleep, the partner of the couch, sweet, though but 
short, falling upon her eyelids towards morning. h 

Her formerly did the far-shooting Apollo, with beautiful 
quiver, find alone struggling without weapons against a 
mighty lion, and immediately he addressed Chiron with his 
voice, calling him from his dwelling : " Son of Phillyra, 
having left thy hallowed cave, wonder at the courage and 
mighty strength of a woman, what a contest she is waging 
with undaunted head, she a maiden having a heart superior 
to toil, and her spirit is not agitated with fear. Who of men 
begat her, and dragged away from what stock, 1 doth she 

c v. 8 : i.e. the third division of the continent, viz. Africa. 

d v. 10 : or, touching him with gentle hand. 

e i. e. Hypseus. 

f v. 18 : i.e. the loom along which she who works has to walk back- 
wards and forwards. 

* v. 24 : i. e. bestowing, or, enjoying. 

h v. 25 : indulging in sleep, the bed-fellow, for short though sweet 
space, only when the morning broke ; being engaged in hunting during 
the greater portion of the night. 

v. 33 : i. e. sprung from what race, or, of what race being thus far 
removed from her friends. , 



88 PYTHIAN IX. 

inhabit the hollows of the shady mountains 1 She enjoys k 
unbounded might. Is it lawful to lay my divine hand 1 upon 
her, or must I truly in marriage™ pluck the honey-sweet 
flower of virginity ? 

And to him the mighty Centaur, gently smiling with 
placid brow, forthwith gave in answer his counsel : " Secret 
are keys by which wise Persuasion opens the way to sacred 
loves, n O Phoebus, and among both gods and men alike all 
feel shame at this, viz. openly to obtain sweet wedlock 
at first. And thee too, who canst not lie, soft passion has 
induced to put this covert question. And dost thou 
inquire the race of the maiden, O King, whence she is % 
Thou who knowest the fore-appointed issue of all things, and 
all their paths : and how many leaves in spring-time the 
earth sends forth, and how many sands in the sea and in the 
rivers are tumbled by the waves and by the gusts of the 
winds, and what is to befall, and whence it will be, all this 
thou well perceivest : but if it needs be that I match myself 
even with the wise,P I will speak. A spouse to this maiden 
hast thou come to this wooded glen, and thou art about 
across the sea to bear her to the distinguished garden of 
Zeus,<i where thou shalt make her ruler of a state, having 
collected an island population to the hill surrounded by a 
plain. But now r the queenly Libya, with broad meadows, 
shall for thy sake receive the glorious nymph in her golden 
mansions, where she shall immediately give to her a portion 
of her land, so that it shall jointly belong to her by lawful 
right ; a portion neither without share of plants rich in 
fruits, nor unacquainted with wild beasts. There shall she 
bring forth a son, whom renowned Hermes, having taken up 
from his dear mother, shall bear to the fair-throned Hours 
and to Mother Earth. And they having placed the babe upon 
their knees, shall infuse nectar and ambrosia on his lips, and 

k v. 35 : i. e. she has. 

1 v. 36 : Qu. " a violent hand." m v. 37 : lit. from her couch. 

n v. 39 : lit. the secret keys of sacred loves are of, or, belong to wise 
persuasion. 

° v. 43 : or, thy jocose disposition induced thee deceitfully to speak 
this word, i. e. thou jestest (for thou canst not really speak what is false), 
in thus pretending to ask advice, which thou dost not really need. 

P v. 50: or, measure myself in wisdom even with thee the wise god. 

4 v. 52 : i. e. to Cyrene. r v. 55 : i. e. for the present. 



PYTHIAN IX. . 89 

shall make him an immortal Zeus and holy Apollo ; s so that 
since he mill be the most present* source of delight to men 
dear to him, and the tender of sheep, by some he may be 
called Agreus and Nomius, and by others Aristseus." 

Thus, then, having spoken, he urged Apollo to perfect the 
sweet accomplishment of marriage. And swift, when they are 
in earnest, is the operation of the deities, and short the paths 
that they take to gain their ends. That day accomplished that 
matter, and they were united in the gold-adorned chamber 
of Libya, where she u sways a city most fair and renowned in 
contests. And now in divine Pytho the son of Carneades 
has introduced her v to prosperous fortune, where w having 
conquered he has proclaimed Cyrene as victor, which gra- 
ciously shall receive him, bringing coveted glory from Delphi 
to his country abounding in fair women. 

Mighty acts of prowess are ever famous in story ; x but in 
abundant matter to speak a little with elegance is a thing for 
the wise to listen to, and the right proportion y is the greatest 
merit in everything alike. Seven-gated Thebes in former 
times acknowledged that Iolaus too did not despise it ; z 
Iolaus, whom after that he had destroyed Eurystheus with 
the edge of the sword, they buried beneath under the earth 
in the tomb of his grandsire, the charioteer Amphitryon, 
where his paternal grandsire lay, guest of the Sown Race, a 
having settled in the streets thronged with white steeds of 
the Cadmeans. The sage Alcmena having had intercourse 
with him and with Zeus, brought forth at one birth the 
victorious strength of twain sons. Dull must the man be 
who lends not his mouth to b Heracles, and does not ever 
make mention of the. waters of Dirce, which nurtured him 
and Iphicles ; in their honour will I sing a triumphal hymn, 
when I shall have obtained some good perfected according to 
my prayer. May the pure light of the loud-voiced Graces 

* v. 64 : i. e. shall regard him as a deity as great and as good as Zeus 
and Apollo. *. v. 65 : or, propitious. 

u v. 70 : i. e. the goddess Libya. v v. 72 : or, brought her. 

w v. 73 : i. e. in Pytho. x v. 76 : or, afford much rn.ai.ter for praise. 

y v. 79 : or, occasion holds the head of everything. 

z v. 80 : i. e. opportunity. 

a v. 82 : or, of those sprung from the seed of the dragon's teeth. 

b v. 87 : i. e. who does not apply himself to praise Heracles. 

c v. 90 : i.e. poetic power. 



90 PYTHIAN IX. 

not fail me ! For at iEgina, I assert, and at the hill of 
Nisus, d that he has glorified this city thrice, having escaped . 
by his deeds silent embarrassment. e Wherefore, if any of 
the citizens is a friend, if any an enemy/ let him not conceals 
that which hath been nobly achieved in the public cause, 
disregarding the precept of the old man of the sea, JVereus ; 
for he bade men to praise, with all their soul, even an enemy 
when with justice performing noble exploits. 

Very often victorious have the maidens beheld thee also in 
the solemnities recurring-at-fixed-seasons of Pallas, and in 
silence 11 each for herself desired that thou, O Telesicrates, 
were her beloved husband or her son ; and in the Olympic 
games at Cyrene, and in those in honour of The Earth with 
deep valleys, and in all tlie games peculiar to the country 
have they also seen tliee victorious. But from me, whilst I 
desire to quench my poetic thirst, some one 1 exacts a debt, 
again to awake the song and the ancient glory of his 
ancestors 'J how for a Libyan woman they went to the city 
Irasa, as suitors to win the fair-haired renowned daughter of 
Antaeus, whom very many princes of men her relatives sought 
in marriage, and many also of strangers ; since her form was 
admirable ; and of her golden-crowned youth they each 
desired to pluck the blooming fruit. 

But her father endeavouring to procure a more illustrious 
marriage for his daughter, had heard of Danaus, what swiftest 
nuptials he formerly in Argos found for his forty-and-eight 
virgin daughters, before midday overtook them. For imme- 
diately he placed the whole band at once at the boundary k 
of the arena, and he bade all, as many as had come as their 
wooers, to decide by contests of feet which maiden each one 
of the heroes should possess. 

d v. 91 : i. e. at Megara. 

e v. 92 : or, distress, i. e. having by his victories escaped the igno- 
minious silence to which the name of the defeated is consigned. 
1 v. 93 : i.e. let every citizen, whether friend or enemy, not, &c. 

* v. 94 : or, disparage. 

h v. 98 : secretly, or breathing a silent prayer. 

1 v. 103 : z. e. Telesicrates. 

J v. 105 : or, according to Dissen's reading, doidav — TraXaid £6ta, 
but from me, desirous as I am to quench my thirst of songs, a certain 
ancient fame, i. e. an ancient famous legend, of thy ancestors demands of 
me the debt, that I should again awaken it. 

* v. 114 : or goal. 



PYTHIAN X. 91 

And thus did the Libyan Antceus, joining her in marriage, 
give a bridegroom to his daughter : at the line 1 of the arena 
he placed her, having decked her in fair attire, to be the 
highest prize : and before them all he said, that he, who first 
bounding forward should touch her garments with either 
hand around m should lead her away as his bride. Then 
Alexidamus, when he had swiftly run the rapid course, 
taking the much-prized maiden by the hand with his hand, 
led through the crowd of the equestrian Nomades. Many a 
leaf indeed and crown did they throw upon him ; and many 
wings of victory 11 had he previously obtained. 



PYTHIAN X. 

Inscribed to Hippocleas (son of Phricias ?) of Pelinnaeum in Thessaly, 
victor in the race of the diavXog of boys : 01. 69, 3 — B.C. 502, when 
Pindar was only twenty years old : sung probably, according to Bergk, 
by a chorus of the inhabitants of Cranon, on the entry of the triumphal 
procession into Larissa ; according to Dissen, at Pelinnaeum. 

AKGUMENT. 

1 — 30 : The praise and illustrious descent of the conqueror and his 
family, the Aleuadae. Yet complete happiness cannot befall men : 
no one can climb heaven, nor reach the Hyperboreans. 31 — 50 : 
Yet Perseus feasted with them, through the favour and guidance of 
Athene. 51 : Praises of the conqueror and his friend Thorax (one of 
the Aleuadae), at whose request Pindar composed this ode. 

Happy is Lacedsemon, blessed is Thessaly ; for the race ot 
Heracles best-in-the-fight, descended from one father, reigns 
over both. Do I boastfully utter aught out of due season ? 
No, but Pytho a and Pelinnaeum call aloud upon me, and the 
sons of Aleuas call aloud upon me, willing me to draw down 
on Hippocles the renowned voice belonging to the festal 
procession of men. 

For he tries the contests ; and to the assembly of the 
neighbouring states the Parnasian vale has proclaimed him 

1 v. 118 : or, limit. 

m v. 120 : i. e. casting both his hands around them. 
n 125 : i.e. many crowns, on which he would soar, as on wings, to 
immortality. a v. 5 : i. e. a Pythian victory. 



92 



PYTHIAN X. 



the first of the youthful racers in the double course. 
Apollo, sweet is both the end and the commencement of 
human affairs made, when a deity gives the impulse : he 
doubtless by thy counsels has accomplished this ; and in re- 
gard of family excellence, he has trod in the footsteps of his 
sire, twice Olympian victor in the war-sustaining arms of 
Ares ; b and the contest held beneath the rock at Cirrha sur- 
rounded by wide meadows, made Phricias victorious in the 
foot-race. May fortune attend them, so that even in after 
days splendid wealth may bloom to them, and having ob- 
tained of the things that are held delightful in Greece no 
small share, may they not meet with envious reverses from 
the gods : may the deity be propitious to them in heart ! d 
But blessed and to be sung by poets is that man, who by 
hands or by excellence of feet having gained the victory, has 
carried off the greatest of prizes by boldness and strength, 
and while still living shall have seen his youthful son duly 
obtaining the Pythian crowns. The brazen floor of heaven 
indeed is never to be mounted by him, but as many glories 
as we of mortal race attain to, in these he reaches to the 
farthest voyage. 

But neither by sea, nor travelling by land canst thou 
discover the wondrous path to the assembly of the Hyper- 
boreans ; with whom Perseus, the leader of the people, once 
feasted, having entered their mansions, when he came upon 
them sacrificing famous hecatombs of asses to the deity ; 
with whose festal banquets and songs of praise Apollo ever is 
especially delighted, and he laughs beholding the rampant 
wantonness of the beasts. f And in their habits s the muse 
is not an alien from this nation; but everywhere choral bands 
of maidens, and the tones of lyres, and the sounds of flutes 
are agitated, h and with the golden laurel having wreathed 
their locks they feast joyously. And neither disease nor de- 

b v. 12 : or, but his inborn valour makes him tread in the steps of his 
sire, &c. c v. 19 : or, of the honours in Greece. 

d v. 22 : oi', " the deity alone may have his heart free from sor- 
row." — H. 

e v. 29 : or, he measures out these to the extreme bound of sailing, 
i. e. these he carries out, or goes through, to the furthest point of perfection. 

f v. 36 : *. e. the wanton play of the rearing and braying brutes. 

£ v. 37 : or, in agreement with their manners. 

h v. 39 : or, are roused ; or, are awakened into life. 



PYTHIAN X. 93 

stractive old age approaches i the sacred race ; but apart from 
toils and battles they dwell, incurring not the penalty of 
rigorous Nemesis. But breathing forth valour, the son of 
Danae in times past came, and Athene led him, to the throng 
of blessed men ; and before tliat he visited tlie Hyperboreans 
he slew the Gorgon, and came bringing to the islanders J the 
head variegated with hair of snakes, k a stony death. But, if 
the gods perform it, nought ever appears to be incredible for 
me to wonder at. 

Rest thy oar, Muse, and speedily fasten firm in the earth 
the anchor dropped from the prow, so as to be a bulwark against 
the sunken rock. For the flower of hymns of praise, like a 
bee hovering here and there, directs my song at one time to 
one, and at another time to another. 1 

But I trust, while the Ephyrseans pour forth around the 
Peneus my sweet strain, to render with these my songs Hip- 
pocleas even still more conspicuous among his equals in age 
and his elders on account of the crowns he has won, and to 
make him the object of care to youthful maidens. For the 
love of different objects inwardly excites the minds of differ- 
ent men ; but what each eagerly desires to gain, let each if 
he shall have obtained it, hold fast m his heart's desire, sur- 
passing words, which he now possesses ; for what will happen 
in a year's time is without mark whereby to foreknow it. 

I confide in the gentle friendship of Thorax, 11 who eagerly 
desires my services and has yoked the four-horsed car of the 
Pierides, loving me who love him in return, leading me who 
again lead him kindly.P 

To him that maketh proof, both gold and the upright 
mind shine when tested, i 

We shall praise indeed the noble brothers of Thorax? be- 

5 v. 41 : lit. is mingled with. 

j v. 47 : i. e. to the Seriphians. 

k v. 48 : i. e. with snaky locks. 

1 v. 54 : or, like a bee, rushes first to one and then to another subject. 

m v. 62 : or, enjoy. 

n v. 64 : one of the Aleuadse, at whose request Pindar composed 
this ode. ° v. 65 : or, labours for my sake. 

p v. 66 : i. e. who both of us do each other mutual good offices in turn. 

q v. 67 : i. e. true friendship is known by the proof of adversity, as 
gold is known by the touchstone. 

r v. 69 : i. e. Eurypylus and Thrasydaeus. 



94 PYTHIAN XI. 






cause they raise aloft the republic of the Thessalians, and 
promote its advancement ; for the hereditary-cherished 
guidance of states is in the hands of the good. 



PYTHIAN XI. 

Inscribed to Thrasydseus, a boy of Thebes, victorious in the stadium of 
boys : 01. 75, 3. B.C. 478 : sung at Thebes, in the triumphal proces- 
sion to the temple of Apollo Ismenus. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 16 : Invocation of the conqueror's native deities, Semele, Ino, and 
Alcmena. 17 — 37 : Digression on the story of Orestes and the crime 
of Clytemnestra. 38 — 64 : Praise of the conqueror's and his father's 
victories ; their fortune above that of tyrants. 

Daughters of Cadmus, Semele dwelling in the same city as a 
the Olympian goddesses, and Ino Lencothea, partner of the 
same chamber with b the Ocean Nereids, come with the 
mother of Heracles, parent of the best of children, to Melia, c 
to the sanctuary where golden tripods are treasured ; tlie 
treasury which Loxias has especially honoured and named 
Ismenium, d veracious seat of prophets. 

O daughters of Harmonia, whither even now he calls the 
assembled troop of heroines that dwell in the country e to 
come together ; that, at the commencement of evening, you 
may loudly celebrate hallowed Themis and Pytho and the 
navel of 'the earth that judgeth righteously, a song of praise 
for seven-gated Thebes and the games of Cirrha; in which 
Thrasydseus has rendered famous f his paternal hearth, by 
casting upon it the third crown of victory £ conquering inthe 
rich fields of Pylades, 11 the friend of Laconian Orestes. 

Whom in truth, when his father was murdered, Arsinoe, 
his nurse, rescued from the cruel hands of Clytemnestra, out 

* or, neighbour of. b i. e. companion of. 

c v. 4 : a deified heroine, mother of Ismenius and Tenerus. 
d or, seat of knowledge. Qu. e or, of local heroines. 

f v. 13 : or, has caused to be remembered. 

£ v. 14 : oi% "in which Thrasydaeus reminded his family of former 
victories by adding a third," or, tfMvaae ft, has put a subject in my mind. 
h v. 15 : i. e. in Crissa, near Delphi. 



PYTHIAN XI. 95 

of the woeful stratagem, when the pitiless woman, with the 
bright brass sent, along with the spirit of Agamemnon to the 
shady bank of the Acheron, Dardanian Cassandra, daughter 
of Priam. 1 "Whether was it so, that Iphigenia slaughtered at 
the Euripus, far from her native country, provoked her to 
arouse her wrath fierce of device 1 J Or was it that nocturnal 
embraces led her astray, seduced by a stranger's bed 1 But 
this is the most hateful sin for youthful wives to commit, 
and one which it is impossible to conceal, because of the 
tongues of others ; for townsfolk are given to evil speaking. 
For prosperity has envy to accompany it not less than 
itself ; k but one who lives in a low station, 1 murmurs 01 un- 
heeded. 

So the hero son of Atreus, having returned at length to 
far-famed Amyclse, himself died, and brought to destruction 
the prophetic maiden, after that he had destroyed the luxu- 
rious houses 11 of the Trojans, burnt along with their city on 
account of Helen. 

So it was that he, the infant child,P came to Strophius, his 
aged friend, dwelling at the foot of Parnassus ; but by the 
help of tarrying Ares - he killed his mother, and laid 
.^Egisthus low with murderous destruction. 1 

Either, in truth, O my friend, I have strayed from my 
path at the meeting of the roads where the paths inter- 
change, having previously advanced by a straight track, or 
some wind has cast me out of my course, as it does a skiff on 
the sea. 

But it is thy part, Muse, since for my pay thou hast 
agreed to lend thy voice hired for silver, to apply thy voice 3 
to various themes, either now at all events for his father the 
Pythian victor, or for Thrasydseus, whose gladness and glory 
blazes bright. 

1 v. 19 : or, daughter of Priam offspring of Dardanus. 

* or, which raged with a heavy hand. 

k v. 29 : i. e. entails a proportionate amount of envy. 

1 v. 30 : or, of a low spirit. m v. 30 : Qu. utters his calumnies. 

n v. 34 : lit. houses of luxury. 

• v. 34 : or, when he had deprived of their luxury the houses of the 
Trojans, burnt, or, worn out, on account of Helen. 

p v. 35 : or, head. i v. 36 : or, with late slaughter. 

r v. 37 : or, laid ^Egisthus low on the very place of Agamemnon's 
murder. » v. 42 : or, wag thy tongue on, &c. 



96 PYTHIAN XI. 

In the first place victorious in the chariots, they in times 
past obtained the swift Olympic glory of renowned contests* 
with their steeds ; and at Pytho too, having descended as 
competitors to the naked stadium, they put to shame the 
Grecian host by their speed. May I love the honours that 
the gods bestow, seeking only what is attainable, 11 while my 
strength lasts. v For as, of all conditions of life in the state, 
I find the middle blessed with the longest prosperity, w I 
despise x the lot of royalty ; and I strive after distinctions 
which are open to all;y but jealous punishments are averted, 2 
if any one having gained the highest success in these, 3 and 
living in quiet, has avoided offensive insolence : and dark 
death will be to him more glorious, b bequeathing to his be- 
loved race the honour of a good name, the best of posses- 
sions. 

"Which praise spreads abroad the fame of Iolaus son of 
Iphicles, praised in song, and the might of Castor and thee, 
O King Polydeuces, sons of gods ; at one time, every other 
day, d dwelling in the seat of Therapnse, and at another time 
in Olympus. 

* v. 47 : i. e. the glory of swiftness at Olympia. 

a v. 50 : or, what is moderate. 

v v. 51 : or, in the vigour of my age. 

w v. 42 : or, flourishing with more lasting happiness. 

x v. 54 : or, blame. 

y v. 55 : or, for the sake of, i. e. to praise, those noble qualities in 
which all take interest. 

z v. 5Q: i. e. Nemesis is averted ; or, reading (pQovepoi 8' d\ivvovTai 
arq.. el tiq k.t.\., for the envious are repelled to their own hurt, i.e. 
they injure only themselves. If any one having gained the highest point 
of happiness, &c. &c. or, reading <p9ovepoi d' dfivvovrai, tclv c' tl rig /e.r.X. 
even the envious are repelled, if of these victories, &c. 

a v. 57 : *'. e. in victories in the public games. 

b v. 58 : lit. he will at the last obtain a fairer gloomy destiny. 

c v. 58 : or bequeathing to his beloved family the most excellent pre- 
sent of possessions, Kpariorav %apiv KTsdvuv, viz. a gift that is well 
spoken of, tvwvvfiov \ctpiv, i. e. an honourable name. — Cook. 

d v. 63 : i. e. on alternate days. 



97 



PYTHIAN XII. 

Inscribed to Midas of Agrigentum, who twice won the prize for flute- 
playing in the Pythian games, and once in the Panathenaea : 01. 71, 3. 
B.C. 494, or 01. 72, 3. B.C. 490 : sung at Agrigentum, when the 
victor entered the city in triumphal procession. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 1 2 : Invocation of Acragas (Agrigentum) both as a city and a heroine. 
13 — 27 : Digression on the invention of the flute by Athene. 27 — 32 : 
Moral reflections on the uncertainty of human happiness. 

I beg of thee, lover of splendour, fairest of mortal cities, 
seat of Persephone, thou, who at the banks of Acragas grazed 
by sheep, inhabitest the hill covered by fair buildings, O Queen, 
propitiously to receive, with the good-will both of immortals 
and of men, this crown from glorious Midas, borne off from 
Pytho j and to receive the man himself that conquered Greece a 
in the art which, in times past, Pallas Athene discovered, 
weaving into measure b the deadly wail of the bold Gorgons; 
which, from the maidens' heads, and from the unapproach- 
able heads of the serpents, she heard poured forth in their 
direful distress, when Perseus slew the third portion of the 
sisters, bringing destined ill both to the sea-girt Seriphus and 
to its inhabitants. Truly he blinded the wondrous d race of 
Phorcus, and deadly did he render his marriage gift to Poly- 
dectes, and deadly, too, his mother's long slavery, and her 
compulsory union ; after that he had violently taken off the 
head of the fair-cheeked Medusa, he, the son of Danae, who, 
we say, was sprung from self-flowing gold. 

But when from these toils she had rescued the beloved 
hero, the maiden e fashioned the many-toned melody of pipes, 
that, by means of instruments f she might imitate the loud- 
sounding wail which forced its ways from the rapid 11 jaws of 

a v. 6 : i. e. the assemblage of Grecian competitors. 
b v. 8 : i. e. imitating in wondrous connection. 
c v. 11 : i. e. Medusa, one of the three sisters. 
d v. 13 : or, divine. e v. 19 : i. e. Pallas. 

1 v. 21 : i. e. by the tone of the modulated instrument. 
& v. 21 : or, which struck her. — Cook. 
h v. 20 : i. e. ceaselessly wailing, Qu. clenched. 
H 



98 PYTHIAN XII. 

Emyale. The goddess invented it, but, having invented it 
for mortal men to possess, she named it the strain of many- 
heads ;* glorious remembrancer of games to which the people 
flock, when it passes through the slender brass ; J and through 
the reeds which grow near the city of the Charites, the city 
with beautiful places for the dance ; in the sacred lot of the 
nyniph Cephisis, k faithful witnesses of the skill of the choral 
dancers. 

But if there be any happiness among men, it appears not 1 
without toil ; but the Deity will surely, should he so please, 
accomplish it m even to-day. n But destiny cannot be avoided ; 
but that time will come, which, throwing a man into unex- 
pected events, will, contrary to his notions, give a part of 
what he looks for, and a part will not give. 

1 v. 23 : or, the many-headed tune. 

J v. 25 : i. e. through the brass mouth-piece. 

k v. 27 : i. e. near the lake Copais. 

I v. 28 : i. e. it cannot be gained. 
m v. 29 : i. e. man's happiness. 

II v. 30 : or, and Providence verily may end it, bring it to an end, 
this day. 

v. 31 : or, bringing a man into unexpected circumstances ; Qu. casting 
him into despair. 



NEMEAN ODES 



n 2 



INTRODUCTION TO THE NEMEAN ODES. 



& 



(Extracted from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.) 

Nemean Games (vifiea, vefiela, or ve/iaia), one of the four 
great national festivals of the Greeks. It was held at 
Nemea, a place near CleonEe in Argolis. The various legends 
respecting its origin are related in the arguments of the 
Scholiasts to the Nemea of Pindar, with which may be 
compared Pausanias and Apollodorus. All these legends, 
however, agree in stating, that the Nemea were originally- 
instituted by the Seven against Thebes, in commemoration 
of the death of Opheltes, afterwards called Archemorus. 
When the Seven arrived at Nemea, and were very thirsty, 
they met Hypsipyle, who was carrying Opheltes, the child 
of the priest of Zeus and of Euiydice. While she showed 
to the heroes the way to the nearest well, she left the child 
behind, lying in a meadow, which during her absence was 
killed by a dragon. When the Seven on their return saw 
the accident, they slew the dragon, and instituted funeral 
games (aywv e7nrd(f)ioc), to be held every third year 
(-puTrjpiKog). Other legends attribute the institution of 
the Nemean Games to Heracles, after he had slain the 
Nemean lion ; but the more genuine tradition was, that he 
had either revived the ancient games, or at least introduced 
the alteration by which they were from this time celebrated 
in honour of Zeus. That Zeus was the god in honour of 
whom the games were afterwards celebrated, is stated by 
Pindar. The games were at first of a warlike character, 



102 INTRODUCTION TO THE 

and only warriors and their sons were allowed to take part 
in them ; subsequently, however, they were thrown open to 
all the Greeks. The games took place in a grove between 
CleoiiEe and Phlius. The various games, according to the 
enumeration of Apollodorus, were horse-racing, running in 
armour in the stadium, wrestling, chariot-racing, and discus, 
boxing, throwing the spear, and shooting with the bow, 
to which we may add musical contests. The Scholiasts on 
Pindar describe the agon veiy imperfectly as hnnKog and 
yvfiviKoc. The prize given to the victors was at first a 
chaplet of olive-branches, but afterwards a chaplet of green 
parsley. When this alteration was introduced, is not certain, 
though it may be inferred from an expression of Pindar, who 
calls the parsley ((teXivov) the fiorara Xeovrog, that the new 
prize was believed to have been introduced by Heracles. 
The presidency at these games, and the management of 
them, belonged at different times to Cleonse, Corinth, and 
Argos, and from the first of these places they are sometimes 
called ayu)v KkewvatoQ. The judges who awarded the prizes 
were dressed in black robes, and an instance of their justice, 
when the Argives presided, is recorded by Pausanias. 
Respecting the time at which the Nemean Games were 
held, the Scholiast on Pindar merely states that they were 
held on the 12th of the month of Panemus, though in another 
passage he makes a statement which upsets this assertion. 
Pausanias speaks of Winter Nemea, and manifestly distin- 
guishes them from others which were held in summer. It 
seems that for a time the celebration of the INemea was 
neglected, and that they were revived in Olympiad 53, 2, 
from which time Eusebius dates the first Nemead. Hence- 
forth it is certain they were for a long time celebrated 
regularly twice in every Olympiad, viz. at the commence- 
ment of every second Olympic year in the winter, and soon 
after the commencement of every fourth Olympic year in 



NEMEAN ODES. 103 

the summer. About the time of the battle of Marathon it 
became customary in Argolis to reckon according to 
Nemeads. 

In 208 B.C. Philip of Macedonia was honoured by the 
Argives with the presidency of the Nemean Games, and 
Quinctius Elaminius proclaimed at the Nemea the freedom 
of the Argives. The Emperor Hadrian restored the horse- 
racing of boys at the Neniea, which had fallen into disuse ; 
but after his time they do not seem to have been much 
longer celebrated, as they are no longer mentioned by any 
of the writers of the subsequent period. 



105 



NEMEAN I. 

Inscribed to Chromius (son of Agesidamus and brother-in-law to Hiero), 
victorious in the chariot-race at Nemea: 01. 76, 4. B.C. 473, shortly- 
after the founding of the city iEtna : sung in the island of Ortygia, in 
the vestibule of the victor's house, probably in the presence of Pindar. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 33 : Invocation of Ortygia, praise of Sicily, and of Chromius, for 
his hospitality, &c. 33 — 72 : Digression on the prowess shown by 
Heracles whilst yet in the cradle, and the prophecy of Tiresias of his 
future exploits. (Cf. Muller, Hist, of Greek Lit. p. 224.) 

Hallowed resting-place of the Alpheus, Ortygia, scion a of 
renowned Syracuse, couch b of Artemis, sister of Delos, c from 
thee the sweet-sounding hymn proceeds to set forth the 
mighty praise of the storm-footed steeds, for the sake of d 
jEtnsean Zeus ; and the car of Chromius and Nemea bid me 
yoke a melody of praise to their victorious deeds. 

And foundations from the gods were laid together with, 
the marvellous worth of that man. e And in success is the 
highest summit of absolute glory; and the Muse loves to 
remember f mighty contests. 

Scatter now some bright praise for the island which Zeus, 
the lord of Olympus, gave to Persephone, and confirmed to 
her by shaking his locks,? that he would support 11 prosperous 
Sicily, fairest spot of the fruitful earth, by the wealthy ex- 
cellence of cities. 1 And the son of Cronus granted to her a 
people fighting on horseback, mindful of brazen-armed war, 
and often too brought close toJ the golden k leaves of the 
Olympian olives. 

I have touched upon the seasonably-offered abundance of 

i. e. one of the divisions. b i. e. tranquil resting-place. 

i. e. loved by the goddess equally with Delos. 

or, to please. 

i. e. a divine foundation was laid for Chromius's success. 

or, record. s {, e. by his nod. 

or, render illustrious. 

i. e. by the noblest and wealthiest cities. 

*. e. winning. k i. e. glorious. 



106 NEMEAN I. 

many subjects, 1 hurling no falsehood. 111 And I have taken 
my stand at the doors of the court of an hospitable man, 
singing his fair praises, where a meet banquet has been 
adorned for me, and the palace, too, is not without experience 
of strangers from a foreign soil ; and he has obtained by his 
kindness good men as friends against those who slander, so as 
to oppose water against smoke. 11 

But various are the arts of different men, and it behoves 
every man walking in the straight path to contend byP his 
natural abilities. For strength works with action,^ but mind 
in counsel, so that they to whom it belongs by nature 1 can 
foresee the future. 

son of Agesidamus, in thy way of life s are to be seen the 
uses* both of these excellences and of those. u I love not to keep 
great wealth concealed in my house, but to have the enjoy- 
ment of my possessions, and to be well spoken of as thence 
assisting my friends ; and a man is wise who does so ; for the 
fears v of much-suffering men come impartial. w 

But I zealously cleave to Heracles, x arousing the ancient 
tale concerning his mightiest deeds of valour p how that, as 
soon as from the womb of his mother, escaping the pang of 
her who bore him, the son of Zeus came forth with his twin 
brother into wondrous light, 2 how that, I say, he went down 
into a the saffron-dyed swaddling-band, not having escaped 
the notice of Here of the golden throne ; but the Queen of 
the gods, incensed in her spirit, forthwith sent serpents. 
They indeed, the gates having been opened, 11 went to the 

1 i. e. upon the abundant and opportune praises of Sicily ; or, I have 
gained an approach to a subject offering many opportunities. 

m i. e. speaking nought beyond the truth. 

n i. e. against envy ; or, so as to throw water on the smoking 
embers. ° or, excellences. p or, according to. 

i i. e. shows itself in action. 

r i. e. so that they who have the natural faculty of doing so. 

8 or, character. l or, advantages. 

u i. e. thou employest both excellences, both courage and prudence. 

v or, boding expectations. 

* i. e. for the inconstancy of human fortune, and the fear of a change 
from prosperity to adversity, reach all alike. 

x i.e. I readily call to mind his valiant deeds. 

y or, wakening the ancient tale of Ms valour on occasion of mightiest 
deeds of valour such as Chromius has now performed. 

z i. e. into the light of day. a i. e. was wrapped in. 

b i. e. through the open gates. 



NEMEAN I. 107 

-wide recess of the inmost chamber, eagerly desiring to 
entwine around the children their swiftly-moving jaws ; but 
he raised against them erect his head, and first essayed the 
battle, having seized by the throats the two serpents with 
the hands from which none could escape, and from them 
thus strangled, lapse of time extinguished the lives from their 
enormous limbs. c But straightway an intolerable shaft of 
fear struck the female attendants, as many as happened to 
be giving succour at the couch of Alcmena ; for she herself, 
inasmuch as they fled in fear, having leaped from her couch 
upon her feet undressed, yet d endeavoured to repel the fury 
of the monsters. And quickly the leaders of the Cadineans, 
clad in brazen arms, thronging ran in, and Amphitryon came 
brandishing a sword naked of its scabbard, Amphitryon, smitten 
by sharp grief. For a woe of his own presses every one alike, 
but the heart is soon untroubled concerning another's grief. 

And he stood affected with grievous and sweet amazement. 
Tor he beheld the uncommon courage and might of his son ; 
and the immortals had made the tidings of the messengers 
to be contradictory. And he summoned the distinguished 
prophet of highest Zeus, who dwelt near at hand, the true 
seer Tiresias ; and he explained to him and to all his host 
what fortunes he, Heracles, should meet with, how many 
lawless monsters he should slay on the land, and how many 
in the ocean ; and many a most hateful man walking in 
crooked insolence did the prophet assert that he, Heracles, 
should give to death. For when, too, the gods in the plain 
of Phlegra should advance in battle against the giants, by 
the blows of his shafts, he said, that their splendid hair 
should be defiled with dust ; but that he verily in peace for 
all time should obtain for aye e rest, having received the 
excellent reward of his mighty toils/ in blissful mansions 
having received blooming Hebe as his bride, and celebrating 
his marriage feast, dwelling near Zeus the son of Cronus, 
should be content with? his august home. 

c i. e., the length of time during which their necks were squeezed 
caused life to leave their enormous limbs. 

d i. e. though only half-clad. e cxuv dsi. — B. 

f or, reading iv <rx e P ( ?> K.r.X. with Dissen, &c, but that he verily in 
peace having obtained for all eternity uninterrupted rest from his mighty 
toils, the excellent reward of his laboicrs. « or, rejoice in. 



108 



NEMEAN IT. 

Inscribed to Timodemus, an Athenian, victorious in the Pancratium : 
date unknown : sung at Athens. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 5 : As the Homer idse begin from Zeus, so Timodemus has won his 
first "victory in the grove of Nemean Zeus. 6 — 25 : He will win also 
in the Isthmian and Pythian games ; a prediction supported by the 
numerous triumphs of the natives of Salamis and the Acharnians, 
with whom the family of Timodemus was connected. 

Whence the Homeridse, bards of continuous strains, generally 
commence the opening of their song from Zeus, so also a has 
this man received b the first commencement of victory in the 
sacred games, in the grove famed in song of Nemean Zeus. 

It is still due, if destiny, guiding him straight in the path 
that his father trod, d hath given him an ornament to mighty 
Athens, that the son of Timonous should also cull the fairest 
prime of the Isthmian games, and should conquer in the 
Pythian contests. And it is reasonable that Orion should 
advance not far from the mountain Pleiads. e 

But Salamis, in sooth, has power to rear a warrior hero. 
In Troy, indeed, Hector heard of f the force of Ajax ; and 
thee, O Timodemus, the sturdy- souled might of the pancra- 
tium will promote to honour. And Acharnse, famed of 
ancient days, abounds in heroes ; and as concerns all things 
in the games,? the Timodemidse are named before all others 
as far superior. 

Near lofty Parnassus first, they bore off six victories from 
the contests • but, h at the hands of Corinthian men as judges 
of the games, in the winding vales of valiant Pelops, they, 
before this time, were brought near to 1 eight crowns ; and 
seven they won in Nemea; and at home in Athens, more 

a i. e. as the Homeridae commence their song from Zeus, so too. 
b or, gained. c or, his time of life. 

d i. e. in the path of victory. 

e i. e. that Orion should follow close behind them ; q. d. it is probable 
that he who has won in one contest, will also win in others to come. 
f i. e. felt. & i. e. in the games as far as concerns tlcem. 

h i. e. and next. ' i. e. they won. 



NEMEAN III. 109 

than can be counted in the contest of Zeus. k Whom, 1 O 
citizens, celebrate in your songs for Timodemus' sake at his 
glorious return, and begin the song with sweet-strained voice. 



NEMEAN III. 

Inscribed to Aristocleides (son of Aristophanes) of iEgina, victorious in 
the Pancratium. The ode was composed long after the victory which 
it celebrates, and was sent to ^Egina and sung at the commemoration of 
the victory on the return of the Nemean festival, before the conquest 
of ^Egina by the Athenians : 01. 80, 3 or 4. B.C. 458 or 457. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 12 : Proemium. Invocation of the Mu3e. 12 — 26 : The praise of 
Aristocleides, whom the poet declares to have performed deeds worthy 
of the ancient Myrmidons, and to have reached the pillars of Hercules. 
26 — 64 : Eulogy of the valiant acts of the ^Eacidse, through all the 
three stages of human life. 65 — end : The poet returns to Aristo- 
cleides, and completes the catalogue of his achievements. 

O honoueed Muse, our mother, I entreat thee, come on the 
high festival of the Nemean games to the Doric isle ^Egina, 
frequented by many a stranger. Since by the water of the 
Asopus, youths who build honied songs of triumph await, 
eagerly expecting thy voice. 

One deed thirsts for one reward, and another for another, 
and victory in the games most loves the song, the meetest 
attendant of crowns of victory and deeds of excellence. Of 
which melody a bounteous supply afford from my skill. But 
commence, O If use, daughter of Zeus, the excellent hymn to 
the Lord of the cloudy heaven, and I will join it to their 
lays and to the lyre. And Zeus will hold this thy labour 
pleasing, the ornament as it were of the land, a where dwelt 
of old the Myrmidons, whose anciently-famed assembly of 
the games Aristocleides, by thy ordinance, 13 did not disgrace 
with the reproach of cowardice, by yielding, in the very 
mighty host of the Pancratium ; but of wearisome blows 

k i. e. in the Olympeia at Athens. * i. e. Zeus. 

a v. 12 : or, and the grace of this land, i. e. the chorus, shall have 
a pleasing toil — B. ; or, and the ode will have a pleasing labour, viz. the 
honouring- of a land. — Cool: 

b v. 15 : i. e. thanks to thee. 



110 NEMEAN III. 

a wholesome remedy, viz. the praise of victory in Nemea 
certainly with-the-deep-plain, doth he bear off. c 

But since, fair of person and achieving deeds worthy of 
Ms form, the son of Aristophanes has reached the highest 
praises of manhood, yet no further onwards it is easy for 
him to traverse the impassable sea beyond the pillars of 
Heracles, which the hero-god placed as illustrious witnesses 
of his farthest voyaging ; and he subdued enormous monsters 
in the deep, and he thoroughly searched out the streams of 
the swamps until he reached the home-conducting goal of his 
return, d and he denned the earth. e 

My spirit, to what foreign promontory f dost thou turn 
aside my course 1 To ^Eacus and to his race I bid thee bring 
thy Muse. 

And the bloom of justice, which is to praise the brave, 
attends this my word ; nor are desires for what is alien 
preferable for a man to have.s Seek for subject matte?' at 
home ; and thou hast already a fitting theme for praise, so 
as to sing something sweet. 

In ancient excellence 11 Peleus rejoiced, 1 when he had cut 
his exceeding great spear ; Peleus, who too alone without an 
army took Iolcos, and won maritime Thetis not without 
toil. And widely-potent Telamon, the comrade of lolaus, 
overcame Laomedon; and of yore he followed him k against 
the might of the Amazons armed with the brazen bow, nor 
did fear that tameth men quell the vigour of his soul. 

But, by innate excellence one mightily prevails ; but he 
who hath only what he has learnt, lie, I say, a man destitute of 
real worth, being of one spirit at one time and of another at 
another time, never descends l with a sure foot, but tries at 
numberless excellences with a mind that completes nothing. 



c v. 18 : or, he bears off in low-lying ISTemea certainly, the praise of 
victory, a healthful remedy of painful blows. 

d v. 25 : i. e. the goal or limit that sent him back on his return home- 
wards. 

e v. 26 : i. e. made it known to extend thus far, and no further. 

f v. 27 : ciicpav, Qu. coast. 

s v. 30 : i.e. celebrate not foreign glory before native worth. 

h v. 32 : i. e. though advanced in years. 

' v. 33 : or, Peleus still rejoices in his ancient fame for noble deeds, 
i. e. is still praised in ancient tales of valiant deeds, or, among ancient 
worthies. k v. 39 : i. e. Iolatis. 

1 v. 42 : or, comes not to the mark. 



NEMEAN III. Ill 

The yellow-haired Achilles dwelling at first m in the home 
of Philyra, being a child used to play at mighty deeds, often 
brandishing with his hands his javelin with short head, and 
like the winds in st'-i/tifss used in combat to work slaughter 
on the fierce lions, and used to slay wild boars, and bore 
their breathless bodies 11 to the Centaur the son of Cronus ; as 
soon as he was six years old, and so lie did through all the 
after time : him would Artemis and the bold Athena look 
with marvel on, as he slew the stags without the aid of dogs 
and ensnaring nets ; for he prevailed by swiftness of foot. 

But I have to tell this tale told by those of former days ; 
lwvo that sage Chiron reared Jason within Ins strong roof, and 
next Asclepius, whom he taught the soft-handed adminis- 
tering of remedies ; and how that at another time he gave in 
marriage to Peleus Nereus' daughter with her fair fruits, 
and reared for her her mightiest offspring, nourishing his 
whole soul with all that was befitting ; in order that, wafted 
by the sea-blasts of the winds beneath Troy, he might 
withstand the spear-clashing war-cry of the Lycians and 
Phrygians and Dardanians, and engaging his hands in battle 
with the spear-bearing Ethiopians, that he might fix it in 
Ins mind,P that their master Memnon, the bold cousin of 
Helenus, might no more return back home. 

The far-shining glory of the iEacidae is attached to this 
quarter ;i O Zeus, tliee I address, for tliey (the JEacidce) are 
thy blood, and to thee belongs the Nemean contest, which 
my hymn has aimed at, r chanting with the voices of youths 
sweet praises in honour of the land. 

And a loud acclaim well befits victorious Aristocleides, 
who has wedded to glorious report this island and the holy 
Theorion by his glorious endeavours to obtain victory in tlie 
games. 

In trial the perfection of those things is clearly seen, in 
which a man is superior to others ; and thus is the superiority 
of Aristocleides seen, as a child among young children, and as 

m v. 43 : or, abiding one portion of his life, i. e. during his youthful years. 

n {jv. 48 : or, with breathless, i. e. panting frame, bore them. 

v. 56 : or, the parent of fair fruits ; Qu. " blessing the fruits of 
woman's womb." — Wordsicorth. Athens and Attica. 

p v. 62 : i. e. might especially provide. 

q v. 64 : or, is connected with, hangs from, this quarter, i. e. from 
the deeds of Achilles. 

* v. 65: i. e. has endeavoured to set forth. 



112 NEMEAN IV. 

a man among men, and a third time 3 among the elders ; 
according to the portion of life which we severally hold, we 
the race of mortals. And length of life brings also four 
excellences, 1 and bids us think wisely of the present. 11 From 
which he is not distant. 7 

Farewell, my friend ! I send in truth to thee this honey 
mingled with white milk, w and the mingled foam x hangs 
round the brim, a draught to be sung with the .ZEolian 
breath of flutes, late though it be. But amongst the winged 
ones the eagle is swift ; the eagle that suddenly seizes, though 
chasing after it from afar, his blood-stained prey with his 
talons ; but croaking daws haunt the lowly regions. On 
thee, fair-enthroned Clio favouring, on account of thy vic- 
torious courage, from Nemea and from Epidaurus, and from 
Megara too hath the light of glory shone. 



NEMEAN IV. 

Inscribed to Timasarchus (son of Timocritus) ofiEgina, victorious in the 
wrestling-match of boys ; probably shortly before 01. 80. B.C. 456; 
sung in .ZEgina while the procession was moving through the streets 
of the city. 

ARGUMENT. 

Proemium. 1 — 8 : The power of song to refresh and solace after the 
toils of the contest. 9—32 : Praise of the victories of Timasarchus. 
32 — 69 : The poet recalls himself from this theme, and after con- 
descending to notice and castigate those who maligned him and his 
poetic powers, passes on to the praise of the race of the .ZEacidae and 
their worship in many lands. 69 — end : Praise of the race of the 
Theandridse (the conqueror's family) ; of Callicles the uncle ; and 
Euphanes a poet, the grandfather of the conqueror ; and Melesias, his 
train ing-master. 

The mirth of the banquet is the best physician for toils that 
are decided ; but sage lays, daughters^of the Muses, soothe 

R v. 73 : or, reading rplrov pspog, his third portion of superiority. 

* v. 74 : i. e. gives us a fourth wisdom too. 

u v. 75 : i. e. bids us enjoy the present moment. 

v v. 76 : i. e. all which excellences are possessed by Aristocleides. 

w v. 77 : i. e. this sweet Boeotian draught to thy banquet. 

x v. 78 : or, froth, of the liquor. 



NEMEAN IV. 113 

him a when they reach him. Nor doth warm water so much 
refresh-by-nioistening the limbs, as praise linked with the 
lyre. And words outlive the deeds they celebrate, whatever 
woi'ds, with the aid of the Charites, the tongue may draw 
out from the deep heart. 

May it be allowed me to dedicate this strain^ to Zeus son 
of Cronus, and to Nemea and to the wrestling of Timesar- 
chus, as a prelude to my hymn ; and may the fair-towered 
seat of the .ZEacidae receive it, jEgina which is, by its justice 
that aideth the stranger, a common light d to all. 

But if thy father Timocritus were still warmed by the 
enlivening sun, oft harping the changeful strain, he would, 
inclining his mind to this song, have swelled the hymn of 
victory which sends thee the wreath of garlands both from 
the Cleonaean contest, e and from brilliant honoured Athens, 
and won in seven-gated Thebes ; since near the stately tomb 
of Amphitryon the Cadmseans not unwilling covered him 
with flowers for ^Egina's sake. For coming as a friend to 
friends, he passed down the hospitable city to the blissful hall 
of Heracles/ with whom of yore the mighty Telamon over- 
threw Troy and the Meropes and the huge warrior terrific 
Alcyoneus, yet not before he had destroyed twelve four- 
yoked cars with a mass of rock, and twice as many heroes, 
tamers of the steed, that rode therein. That man would 
appear unskilled in the fortune of war,? who does not under- 
stand the old proverb ; for it is likely that " he who does 
must also suffer." 11 

But to make a long digression, the law of my song and 
the hastening hours forbid me } and by a charm am I drawn 
away to touch upon the day of the new-moon. 1 Nevertheless, 
my heart, although the deep ocean brine holds thee up to 
the waist, resist the treachery ;J and then we shall seem, far 

a v. 3 : i. e. the victorious athlete, or them, i. e. the toils. 

b v. 9 : or, to /xoi sir), /c.r.X. wherefore may it be allowed me, &c. 

c v. 12 : i. e. JEgina. d v. 13 : or, safety. e v. 17: i.e. from Nemea. 

f v. 24 : or, he entered as a resting-place the hospitable city to 
approach, Qu. to offer his vows at, the blissful hall of Heracles, i. e. the 
Heracleum or gymnasium of Heracles. 

g v. 30 : or, unread in battles. 
v. 32 : or, since it is right that a doer should also be a sufferer. 

| v. 35 : i. e. to celebrate the victory now before me. 

j v. 37 : or, plot, i. e. the calumnies of envious detractors. 

I 



Hi NEMEAN IV. 

superior to our adversaries, to depart k in glory ; but some 
other man with envious look revolves a vain thought in 
secret, coming to nought. But to me whatever excellence 
ruling destiny has assigned, well I know that coming time 
shall accomplish it, predestined. 1 

Weave, my sweet lyre, this strain also forthwith, conjoined 
with Lydian harmony, beloved by CEnone m and by Cyprus too, 
where Teucer the son of Telamon rules far from his native 
soil ; but Ajax sways as a tutelary god his paternal native 
Salamis ; and in the Euxine Sea Achilles rules a bright island ; 
and Thetis rules in Pthia, and Neoptolemus in far-stretching 
Epirus, where the projecting promontories that give pasture 
to the cattle gradually slope, beginning from Dodona, to the 
Ionian Sea. But Iolcos at the foot of Pelion, did Peleus, 
having approached it with hostile hand, give reduced to 
slavery, to the Hsemonians, 11 having experienced the crafty 
arts of Hippolyta the spouse of Acastus. And by means of 
the cunningly-wrought sword, Acastus the son of Pelias by 
ambuscade was preparing death for him ;° but Chiron warded 
off the danger and brought what was destined by Zeus to its 
accomplishment ; and having quelled all-mighty fire and 
sharpest claws of daring lions, and the edge of direst teeth, 
he wedded one of the high-throned Nereids, and beheld the 
orbed throne, seated on which the kings of heayen and of 
ocean showed forth to himP the gifts and the power that 
would endure to his posterity. 

Beyond the westward of Gadeirai we cannot pass : turn 
back again to the land of Europa the tackling of the ship ; 
for it would be impossible to me to go through the whole 
tale of the sons of ^Eacus. 

And for the Theandridse have I come a ready herald of 
the games that-strengthen-the-limbs at Olympia, and at the 
Isthmus, and at Nemea too, by agreement. Where as often 
as they contend, they return not home without crowns glori- 
ous with fruit ; where we hear that thy clan, O Timasarchus, 

k v. 38 : or, come to land. 

1 v. 44 : i.e. well I know that the future will declare my merit in 
poetry, of what sort it is. 

m v. 46 : i. e. by ^Egina. n v. 56 : i. e. the Thessalians. 

v. 59 : i. e. Peleus. * v. 68 : i. e. let him see. 

i v. 68 : Gades. 



XEMEAN V. 115 

ministers to r the lays of victor}''. But if in truth thou 
biddest me also raise for Callicles thy mother's brother a pil- 
lar whiter than Parian stone, gold when refined throws out 
full lustre, and a hymn that tells of valiant deeds makes a 
man equal in fortune to kings ; tlierefore let him though 
dwelling near Acheron, obtain my loud-sounding tongue s at 
tlie Isthmian games, where, in the contest of the deep-roaring 
"Wielder of the trident, he flourished with Corinthian pars- 
ley;* whom Euphanes, thy aged grandsire, O boy, in timse 
past sang. 

But to different persons there are different contemporaries^ 
but what each has seen, these deeds each one thinks he him- 
self can best tell. 

In what manner would one that should praise Melesias 
twist back the strife/ interweaving his words, w unconquer- 
able in his song x for his antagonist to overthrow, gentle- 
minded towards the good, but a fierce opponent to his 
adversaries. 



NEMEAN" V. 

Inscribed to Pytheas (son of Lampo) of JEgina, victorious in the 
Pancratium of the boys, at a date previous to the battle of Salamis, 
B.C. 480 : sung at a banquet in iEgina. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 9 : Proemium. The poet announces the victory of Pytheas. 9 — 18 : 
The prayers of the iEacidae at the altar of Zeus ; their flight from 
^Egina. 19 — 37 : The chastity of Peleus and his glorious nuptials. 
37 — end : The poet returns to the matter in hand, and praises the 
victor's family, and his training-master Menander. 

No sculptor am I so as to carve statues that will stand 
stationary and rest firm upon their base, 3 but upon every 

r v. 79 : or, is pre-eminent in, is foremost in. 
8 v. 86 : i.e. my tongue loud in his praise. 
* v. 88 : i.e. won the parsley crown. 

u v. 91 : i. e. each different conqueror has a different poet con- 
temporary with him to sing his exploits. 

v v. 93 : i. e. struggle in the contest of panegyric. 
w v. 96 : i. e. coining new phrases in his praise. 
x v. 94 : or, in his discourse. 

8 v. 1 : or, according to Dissen, " resting upon the same base." 
12 



11G NEMEAN V. 

vessel of burtlien and liglit bark, b sweet song, proceed forth 
from -ZEgina, and announce abroad that Pytheas, the mighty- 
son of Lampo, has borne off the wreath of the Pancratium at 
Nemea, though not showing on his chin the bloom of 
summer-hue, tender mother of the vine-down, and has 
honoured the warrior heroes the .ZEacidse, sprung up from 
Cronus and Zeus and from the golden Nereids, and his 
mother-country, a land friendly to strangers. 

Which, formerly standing by the altar of the Hellenian 
father, the renowned sons of Endais and the might of 
kingly Phocus prayed might be blessed with brave men and 
renowned for ships, and stretched forth together their hands 
to heaven — Phocus, I say, the son of the goddess, whom 
Psamathea bore on the shore of the ocean. 

I fear to tell of a monstrous deed ventured upon not with 
justice, how in truth they came to leave the glorious island 
find what fortune drove the valiant heroes from QEnone. 
I will pause : not every truth, though strictly true, is better 
for showing its face ; d and silence is often the wisest thing 
for a man to understand. But if it be resolved by me to 
praise their wealth, or their might of hands, or steel-clad war, 
let some one mark me out long leaps from this point : e I have 
a light spring of the knees, and so do the eagles fly beyond 
the ocean. 

And graciously to them too did the most lovely band of the 
Muses sing on Pelion, and in the midst of them did Apollo, 
running over the seven-tongued lyre with the golden quill, 
lead through all the various moods. f And they in the first 
place, commencing the song from Zeus, hymned the revered 
Thetis and Peleus, and how delicate Hippolyta, daughter of 
Cretheus, sought to destroy him by craft, having persuaded 
his friend the king of the Magnesians her consort by cunning 
plots, and she concocted a false fabricated tale, namely, how 
that he attempted nuptial intercourse until her in the mar- 
riage couch of Acastus : but the contrary was the truth ; for 
often and with all her might guilefully-speaking did she 

b v. 2 : i. e. on every vessel whether great or small. 
c v. 16 : Qu. or, what angry deity. 
d v. 17 : i. e. not every truth is profitably disclosed. 
e v. 20 : i, e. mark out the subject ; Qu. starting from the exploits of 
the ^acidse, or from the death of Phocus. f v. 25 : or, strains. 



KEMEAN V. 117 

entreat him. His soul the bolcU words stung; and forth- 
with he refused the embrace of the bride, fearing the wrath 
of the host-protecting Sire. But Zeus, the monarch of the 
immortals, that raiseth the clouds, perceived the deed from 
heaven, and promised that soon he would obtain one of the 
Nereids with spindles of gold as an ocean bride for him, 
having persuaded Poseidon their kinsman, who from .ZEg?e 
oft resorts to the famed Dorian Isthmus, where joyous bands 
with the noise of the pipe receive him their god, and contend 
with the hardy strength of limbs. 

But the innate gift that each man has, gives decision about 
all achievements. 11 And thou in ^Egina, Euthymenes, 
having fallen into the arms of the goddess Victory, hast 
obtained hymns of varied strain. Surely even now too thy 
uncle 1 praises his kindred sprung from the same ancestors^ 
O Pytheas, who has followed closely in his steps. Nemea 
favours him and the month of his country, k which Apollo 
loved ; and those of his own age who came to contest against 
him did he conquer, both at home 1 and at the hill of Nisus 
with sweet glades. And I rejoice, because the whole city 
contends for distinctions. 111 

Know that thou hast obtained, with the aid 11 of Menander, 
a sweet return of thy toils : and it is right that from Athens 
should come the master of athletes. 

But if thou hast come to sing Themistius, slack no more 
in zeal : utter thy voice, and stretch forth the sails to the 
yard-arm of the mast-head, and proclaim him as a boxer, 
and that he has carried off a double prize in the Pancratium 
at Epidaurus,P and to the vestibule of .ZEacus brought 
grassly chaplets of flowers, by the favour of the yellow-haired 
Charites. 

z v. 32 : Qu. wicked words. 

h v. 40 : i.e. the inborn strength or skill that each has decides his 
success in the games. Perhaps it should rather be rendered, "But the 
future that is born with each decides on all his actions." 

1 v. 43 : i. e. Euthymenes. 

j v. 45 : i. e. thee, his blood relative. 

k v. 44 : i. e. the month Delphinius, in which the Delphinian games 
were held. l v. 45 : i. e. at iEgina. 

m v. 47 : or, for the praise of victory in the games. 

n v. 48 : or, good fortune. ° v. 49 : or, trainer of athletes. 

p v. 53 : or, "that he as a boxer, won at Epidaurus a twofold 
victory." — Cook. 



118 



JSTEMEAN VI. 

Inscribed to Alcimidas, the son of Theon, of .^Egina, victorious in 
wrestling among the boys, under the training of Melesias, about 01. 
80. B.C. 460 : sung in iEgina, probably at a banquet of the family 
of the Bassidae. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 7 : Proemium. The likeness and the dissimilarity between the race 
of gods and men. 8 — 25 : It has been the destiny of the Bassidae to 
see gymnastic excellence and success in the games flourish and fall in 
alternate generations of their race. 25 — end : Second part of the ode. 
The poet sets forth the praises of the Bassidae and of ^Egina, making 
a passing mention also of the iEacidae. 

One is the race of men, another is the race of gods, but from 
one mother we both, draw our breath ; a but a capacity 11 alto- 
gether different separates the races of men and gods; since the 
one is nought, whilst the brazen heaven remaineth ever a 
firm seat for the oilier. But still in some respect do we re- 
semble the immortals, either in mighty mind or in bodily 
frame, though we know not to what goal of life either by day 
or night fate has written for us to run. 

And now Alcimidas proves the innate talent of his race, c 
so that we can see it like as in fruitful fields ; which alter- 
nately at one time give to men the plenteous sustenance of 
the plains, and then at another time resting, collect their 
strength. 

Eroni the fair contests of Nemea came the youth that 
contended in the games, who desiring to obtain this fortune 
granted him. by Zeus, hath now appeared no luckless hunter 
in the wrestling, moving his foot in the footsteps of Praxi- 
damas, his kindred grandsire. For he being a conqueror at 
Olympia, was the first to crown himself with wreaths of olive 
from the Alpheus in honour of the .iEacidse, and by winning 
the crown five times at the Isthmus and thrice at Nemea, 
took away the obscurity of Socleides, who was the eldest of 

a v. 1 : Perhaps it would be better to render this, one is the race of 
men, and one is the race of the gods, and from one mother we both draw 
our breath. b v. 3 : or, nature. 

c v. 9 : or, his kindred with the gods. 



DEMEAN VI. 119 

the sons of Agesimachus. d Since the three winners of the 
prizes, who tried the toil, have reached the summit of glory. 

But no other family has the boxing-match displayed, 
under divine favour, as the steward e of more crowns, in any 
comer of all Hellas. I trust, though speaking a bold word, to hit 
the mark before me, sending forth my shaft as from a bow : 
come, muse, direct straight to this family a fair gale of 
poetry of good report. For of their heroes that have passed 
away bards and stories have preserved for them the glorious 
deeds, and these are not lacking among the Bassidse : a race 
famed in ancient story, freighted with their own praises, are 
able to afford, through their lordly deeds, matter for much 
song to those that till the field of the Pierides. f 

For thus too in divine Pytho, having his hands bound with 
the thong,? did Callias, a descendant of this family, of yore 
prevail, pleasing the scions h of Latona who wields the golden 
spindle, and near Castalia too at evening tide he shone 1 in 
the loud chant of the Charites : the unwearied bridge too of 
ocean, k in the third-yearly festival of the surrounding states 
when the bull is slain, honoured Creontidas in the sacred 
pine grove of Poseidon ; and the lion's fodder 1 has often of 
old decked him victorious beneath the shady primeval moun- 
tains of Phlius. 

Wide from all sides are the approaches for those skilled 
in ancient story to adorn with praise this famous isle ; 
since to them m the ^acidse gave surpassing fortune by 
displaying mighty deeds of valour. Over both land and 
across the sea afar does their name spread ; even to the 
Ethiopians, for that Memnon returned not home, did it fly, 
and a grievous contest Achilles showed them, when having 
descended from his car he slew the bright son of Eos with 
the point of Ms wrathful spear. 

And this highway of praise the bards of ancient days dis- 
covered, and I too myself follow with all eager zeal : n but 

d v. 23 : i. e. he won at the games, which his father Socleides had 
failed to do. 

e v. 27 : or, as having a store of. f v. 33 : i. e. to poets. 

S v. 36 : i. e. wearing the cestus. h v. 38 : i. e. children. 

5 v. 39 : i. e. he was celebrated. k v. 40 : i. e. the Isthmus. 

1 v. 44 : i. e. the Nemean parsley crown. m v. 48 : i. e. the islanders. 

■ v. 56 : i. e. as they praised the iEacidse, so too do I desire to 
follow their example. 



120 NEMEAN VII. 

that one of the waves which in succession rolls before the 
keel of the ship is said most to disturb each sailor's mind. 

But on willing back carrying a double burden P have 
I come as a herald of Alcimidai fame, singing this vic- 
tory the fifth in addition to twenty won from the games 
which men call sacred, which too the renowned race 
of Alcimidas has furnished to be celebrated in song. Two 
Olympic crowns indeed by the precinct of Cronium did the 
random lot deprive thee, O youth, of, thee and Polytimidas. 
Equal to the dolphin through the brine in swiftness could I 
tell of Melesias, Milesias the trainer of hands and of strength. 



NEMEAN YII. 

Inscribed to Sogenes, son of Thearion, of iEgina, victorious in the 
Pentathlon of the boys ; Nem. 54. Olymp. 79, 4. B.C. 461 : sung 
in iEgina. 

AKGUMENT. 

1 — 20 : Proemium. Sogenes' victory in the Quinquertium, due to the 
mighty strength inplanted in him by Ilithyia : poetry is the mirror of 
mighty actions, without which they must remain in obscurity. 
20 — 49 : The mythical portion of the ode. Ulysses has been honoured 
even more than he deserved by the poetry of Homer : Ajax and 
Neoptolemus, though they both met with a grievous death, are now 
held in everlasting honour and renown. 50 — end : The poet returns 
to the subject before him ; praises Thearion, the father of Sogenes, 
speaks in his own defence and his friends, against the censures of the 
JEginetans, praises Sogenes, and ends by invoking Heracles to 
protect the family. 

Ilithyia, assessor of the deep-counselling Eates, child of 
Here of mighty strength, hear, O thou that bringest children 
to the light : without thee we reach not to thy sister Hebe a 
with fair limbs, neither beholding the light nor the dark 
night. b But we have not breath all alike for similar achieve- 

v. 58 : i. e. I must attend to the task immediately before me, as 
the mariner has to attend to, and guard against the wave directly before 
his vessel. 

p v. 59 : i. e. the twofold praise of the ^Eacidse and of the present 
victory of the Bassidae. a or Youth. 

b v. 3 : i.e. not during the whole course of our life. 



NEMEAN VII. 121 

ments, and various destinies restrain each man differently, as 
he is severally bound by fate. 

By thy aid too Sogenes the son of Thearion, distinguished 
for his prowess, is sung glorious in the contests of the five 
exercises. For he dwells in the city of the spear-clashing 
iEacidse, the city that loves to hear the song of victory ; and 
greatly do they desire to cherish a spirit skilled in contests. 
But if any one succeed in the contest, he affords delicious 
subject of song to the streams of the Muses ; for mighty 
feats of strength are clouded by great obscurity, if they lack 
Hie aid of hymns : but for noble deeds we know a mirror in 
this way only, c if, through Mnemosyne with the bright 
tiara, a man wins the recompense of his toils by the far- 
famed songs of poetry. 

And the wise have learnt when the wind will blow on 
the third day, and lose not all through desire of gain. d The 
wealthy and the poor alike come to death. 

But I believe that the fame of Odysseus is become greater 
than in proportion to what he suffered, through the sweet poet 
Homer : since in his fictions and his winged art a something 
majestic dwells and his skill deceives us, leading the mind 
astray by fabled lore ; but the more numerous crowd of men 
have a blind spirit. For if it were possible that it could see 
the truth, e never would the mighty Ajax enraged about the 
arms have driven the polished sword through his breast — 
Ajax whom most mighty in battle except Achilles, the 
guidance of the straight-blowing Zephyrus conveyed in swift 
ships to the city of Ilus, that he might bring back his spouse 
for the yellow-haired Menelaus. But the wave of death comes 
alike on all, and it falls on the inglorious and on the 
glorious/ But there ariseth honour for those heroes whose 
beauteous fame the Deity increases in aid of the memory of 
the deceased,? who have come to the great navel of wide- 

c v. 14 : i.e. -we know but one sole mirror for noble deeds, 

d v. 17 : or, The prudent sailors provide against, or keep a look-out 
for, the coming wind that will blow on the third day, nor do they, 
through desire of gain, suffer loss by putting out to sea imprudently. 

e v. 25 : or, For if it were possible to see the truth itself. 

f v. 31 : or, Qu. on the unexpecting, and on the expectant. 

e v. 32 : rtQvaicoTojv j3oa66ov. If j3oa06ujv is read, it must be joined 
with Tt9va.KOT(Dv, in the sense of, " valiant men or heroes that have 



122 NEMEAN VII. 

bosomed earth. But in Pythian plains, after that he had 
sacked the city of Priam, Neoptolemus lies buried j the city 
of Priam where the Danai toiled. Sailing thence away he 
missed the isle of Scyros, and wandering from their course 
he and his companions arrived at Ephyra. Then in Molossia 
he reigned a brief while, but his family after him ever bore 
this regal honour; and he departed to the god h and bore 
with him rich gifts of the first-fruits of the spoils brought 
from Troy ; and there 1 a man smote him with a knife, as he 
fell into a quarrel with him about the carcase of tlie victims, 
and exceeding grieved were the hospitable Delphians ; but 
he only paid the debt of fate ; for it was decreed by destiny, 
that some one of the kingly .ZEacidEe entombed in that most 
ancient hallowed lawn, should for all time to come abide 
near the fair-built shrine of the god, and that he should 
there dwell, keeping order over the festal processions in 
honour of the heroes attended with many a sacrifice, so that 
honoured justice may preside there. Three words will 
suffice ; no false witness presides over the contests. •> 

I have courage to sing this a proper course of song derived 
from their own family in honour of the brilliant virtues, 
O iEgina, of thine and Zeus' children ; k but / will not 
prolong my praises, for in every work repose from toil is 
sweet, and even honey and the pleasant flowers of Aphrodite 
can pall. 

In natural powers we all differ according to the manner 
of life that is allotted to each, one having for his share one 
species of talent and others another ; but it is impossible 
that one individual should be so fortunate as to bear off 
every kind of happiness : I can mention none to whom Fate 
has given this height of happiness to last. 

departed from life f but Hermann doubts the possibility of such an 
expression. h v. 40 : i. e. Apollo. i v. 42 : i. e. at Delphi. 

J v. 49 : i.e. he maintains his charge strictly and infallibly. 

k v. 52 : or, there is boldness to me, i. e. I am bold, to sing this (viz. the 
praises of the jEacidce), a chief path, or an illustrious species of panegyric 
derived from their own family through or for the brilliant virtues, 
O iEgina, of thine and Zeus' descendants. Dissen on the contrary 
joins rode with Sparry, and renders "This is my boldness, O JEg'ma,, in 
honour of the brilliant virtues of thine and Zeus' children, to sing the 
illustrious praise belonging to the family." I have followed in the text 
the order suggested by Boeckh. 



NEMEAN VI I. 123 

But O Thearion, to thee she gives a befitting measure of 
wealth, and takes not away thy intellect of soul after thou 
hadst had the courage to undertake noble deeds. 1 I am thy 
guest-friend : removing far dark slander, I will praise thee 
with a truly glorious praise, bringing as it were streams of 
water to a man I love : and this reward is suitable to the 
good. An Achaean man who dwells above™ the sea of 
Ionia, were he near at hand, would not blame me; 11 I rely 
on my tie of friendship with them; and amongst my own 
compatriots I look round with serene eye, never having 
overstepped moderation, and having removed far apart from 
me all that is violent : and may all future time come joyous 
to me ! And he that shall have clearly leamt, shall declare 
whether I go beyond the harmony of my strain, pouring 
forth a slanderous song. 

thou by race a Euxenid, Sogenes, I swear that I have 
not, going beyond the boundary, flung forth my swift tongue 
as it were a brass-barbed javelin, which sometimes lets go 
free from the wrestling-match the neck and strength of the 
atMete unmoistened by sweat, before that his body is exposed 
to the scorching sun.P If toil it were, yet the joy succeeds 
more abundant. Permit me, in having thus digressed from 
my subject : even though somewhat borne beyond my subject 
I have lifted up my voice, yet I am not niggardly in paying 
to a conqueror his due praise, i To weave chaplets is easy : 

1 v. 60 : or, and from thee who didst obtain daring to perform noble 
exploits she takes not utterly away, or, she deprives thee not of, vigour 
of intellect. m v. 65 : on or by, Qu. beyond. 

n v. 64 : i. e. not even would the remote Achaean, with whom I am 
connected in hospitality, blame me, were he near. By " the Achaean " is 
meant, according to Diss, and B., the Dymaeans in Achaia proper, and 
they consider the meaning to be, " from Dyme in the west to Thebes in 
the east, that is, throughout all Greece, in which I enjoy a general 
right of proxeny, none will blame me or accuse me of calumny. Mr. 
Cookesley thinks the Molossians, the descendants of the Phthiot Achaeans, 
are meant, and Mr. Donaldson the people of Cichyrus. 

v. 72 : or, exempts. 

p v. 73 : or, I swear that I have not, missing the mark, flung forth 
my swift tongue as it were a brass-barbed javelin, which sometimes, as 
failing of its aim, dismisses from the games, and from all chance of com- 
petition in the last exercise of the Pentathlon, viz. in the wrestling, the neck 
and strength of the candidate unmoistened by sweat, before that his 
body is exposed to the burning sun. 

i v. 76 : or, I am not backward to pay a conqueror the praise that is 



124 HEMEAtf vir. 

begin the song : r the Muse in truth joins together gold and 
white ivory too and the lily flower 3 froni the ocean dew, 
taking it therefrom.* 

But remembering 11 Zeus for Nemea's sake/ softly rouse, 
my soul, the noble strain of song. It behoveth on this 
soil w to celebrate the king of the gods with gentle voice ; 
for they say that he begot iEacus by seed received by his 
mother the nymph JSgina, jEacus, I say, the monarch of his 
own renowned country and thy kindly-disposed guest-friend, 
O Heracles, and brother. 

But if one man in any way receives benefit from another 
man, we should assert that a neighbour that loveth with 
faithful mind, is to a neighbour a blessing worih every other ; 
and if this too x the Deity would sanction by thy favour, 
thine, who didst subdue the giants, Sogenes may be able, 
cherishing a mind obedient to his sire, happily to inhabit 
the wealthy hallowed street of his ancestors : since like as in 
the car yokes in which four steeds are driven, he has his 
house, on either hand that he goeth, between thy shrines.y 

O blessed one, 2 thee it becometh to persuade both the spouse 
of Here and the maid with gleaming eyes to give their aid ; 
and thou hast power to give aid to mortals oft against insur- 
mountable difficulties. Would that, for them, having joined 
a life unruffled in youth to a brilliant old age, a thou mayest 

his due, even if soaring somewhat beyond measure I have raised my 
voice in his praise. Qu. though I have raised my voice in my own 
praise, or, defence. 

r v. 77 : or, wait a while; i. e. with a brief delay thou shalt receive a 
worthier chaplet of song. s v. 78 : i. e. coral. 

* v. 79 : i. e. an immortal and precious chaplet, like a crown composed 
of the costliest materials, gold, ivory, and coral. 

u v. 80 : or, making mention of. 

v v. 80 : or, perhaps simply "at Nemea," or "around Nemea." 

w v. 84 : i. e. on iEgina. 

x v. 89 : viz. the law of good neighbourhood. So Donaldson, X. Crat. 
p. 247, renders dvex 01 k.t.X. " if a god would condescend to, would put 
up with, the law of good neighbours." Or, if the Deity should possess it 
(av ixoi), i. e. should possess such a disposition as what I have described 
to exist between good neighbours. 

y v. 94 : i. e. he inhabiteth a house that stands between two temples 
of thine, O Heracles, one on either hand, like a four-horse car that hath 
on either side a pole between its two pair of horses. 

z v. 95 : viz. Heracles. 

a v. 99 : or, perhaps better, "For would that thou, having joined to 
them a vigorous life both in its youth and in brilliant old age, 
mayest," &c. &c. 



NEMEAN VIII. 125 

bring it to a close in happiness, and may their children's 
children ever hold the honour that they now Jwld and here- 
after even more. But my heart shall never allow that it 
has carped at Neoptolemus with unseemly words. To repeat 
the same thing three or four times over, like one who 
foolishly repeateth to children " Corinth belongs to Zeus, 
is but poverty of intellect. 



NEMEAN VIII. 

Inscribed to Deinis, son of Megas, of iEgina, twice victorious in the 
Stadium, sung atiEgina in the iEaceum, Olymp. 80, 3, 4. B.C. 458, 
457. When the victories that it commemorates were obtained, is 
uncertain. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 5 : Proemium. Youth the herald of love. 6 — 16 : The loves of 
Zeus and iEgina, and the birth of ^Eacus. 17 — 39 : Envy, the force 
of which Ajax suffered, is deprecated. 40 — end : The victories and 
praises of Deinis, his father Megas, and the family of Chariadse. 

O honoured beauty of Youth, herald of the ambrosial loves 
of Aphrodite, who, sitting on the eyelids of maidens and 
youths, dost raise aloft one with the mild hands of compul- 
sion and another with different ! a But delightful it is, when, 
not missing good fortune in every other matter b one is able 
to obtain successful love. 

And in such way the loves the dispensers of the gifts of 
the Cyprian goddess attended round the couch of Zeus and 
.ZEgina ; and a son was born, king of QEnone, surpassing in 
might and wisdom. Him oft did many pray to see ; for 
uncalled the flower of heroes that dwelt around were willing 
of their own accord to obey his behests ; both those who in 
rugged Athens ruled their people, and the Pelopidse in Sparta. 

A suppliant of .ZEacus both for the loved city and for the 
citizens, I touch his holy knees; bearing a Lydian fillet, em- 
bellished with loud sounds of the flute, Nemean ornament of 
the two victories in the stadium of Deinis and of his father 
Megas. 

a v. 3 : i. e. handiest with rough treatment. 

b v. 4 : i. e. when being successful in every other point. 

c v. 14 : t. e. an ode in Lydian measure. 



126 NEMEAN VIII. 

Bliss, surely, that hath been planted for mankind by the 
favour of Providence, will abide most lastingly : —Providence 
that loaded Cinyras too with wealth of yore in sea-girt 
Cyprus. I stand on light feet, d and drawing in my breath 
before I say aught. For much and in many ways has been 
told of Cinyras; but to devise novel inventions 6 and to sub- 
ject them to the test of mens judgment for examination is 
very perilous; for the praises you may bestow on others are a 
treat for the envious to feed on, and envy ever attacks the 
good, but does not molest the mean. 

Even the son of Telamon did it f torture and make to fall 
upon his sword. For of a truth one, who though brave of 
heart is not eloquent, oblivion often falls on in an evil 
contest j£ but the greatest reward is held out as a premium 
to wily falsehood. For thus with fraudulent suffrages the 
Greeks unjustly took the side of Odysseus, and Ajax deprived 
of the golden arms wrestled with death. 11 Yet indeed very 
different were the wounds that they, 1 when warring, J inflicted 
with the spear that-defendeth-heroes on the living k persons 
of their foes, as well when fighting round the freshly-slain 
Achilles, as on the deathful days of other toils. 

Hateful then we may conclude in former times also was 
deceitful speech, 1 the companion of wily words, meditating 
guile, ill-report that maketh mischief, which attacks what is 
illustrious, but upholds the false glory of the obscure men. 
May I never have this character, 111 father Zeus, but may I 
hold to the guileless paths of life, that after my death I may 
attach no shameful reputation to my children. Some men 
ifiere are who pray for gold, others for land without limit ; 
but may I, after having so lived, also lay my limbs in the con- 
cealment of the earth beloved 11 by my fellow-citizens, praising 

d v. 19 : or, with feet not firmly planted, i. e. I stop a while. 

e v. 20 : or, matters of narration. f v. 23 : i. e. envy. 

s v. 25 : or, of a surety in a dismal contention, oblivion, i. e. disregard 
of his merits, overwhelms many a man ungifted with the powers of 
eloquence though brave of heart. 

h v. 27 : i. e. slew himself. l v. 28 : *. e. Odysseus and Ajax. 

J v. 29 : Bergk's reading is irtXE^i'Cofitvoi "being driven back," which 
certainly does not seem to make nearly so good a sense as the common 
one followed in the text. k v. 28 : lit. warm. 

1 v. 32 : or, beguiling persuasion. m v. 35 : or, temper. 

n v. 38 : i. e. die too as beloved in death as I have been in life. 



NEMEAN VIII. 127 

what is praiseworthy, and scattering censure on the sinful. 
The glory of mighty deeds increases, as when a tree shoots 
up fostered by the fresh dews, raised by the wise and just of 
men to the liquid sky. Manifold arc the uses of friends : 
the aid they give in difficulties ranks the highest : yet even 
joy desires to have assurance put before its eyes.P 

Megas, to bring back thy spirit from the dead is not 
possible for me : futile is the end of my empty hopes ; but 
for thy house and the Chariadsei it is loithin my poiver to 
erect a great column of the Muses in honour of the twice 
two glorious feet. r 

1 rejoice in pouring forth a fitting praise upon an exploit 
performed ; and by the magic charm of song one hath often 
caused toil to be free from pain. Of a truth the laudatory 
hymn existed long ago, even before the strife arose between 
Adrastus and the Cadmeans. 

v. 41 : i. e. by upright and impartial poets. 

p v. 43 : i.e. the joyous conqueror desires to see before his eyes some 
solid proof of his success, such as may, like a laudatory ode, convince 
others. 

i v. 46 : Qu. but for thy house, that of the Chariadaa, &c. 

r v. 48 : i.e. the two feet of Megas and the two of Deinis, alike 
victorious in the foot-race. 



128 



NEMEAN IX. 

Inscribed to Chromius, son of Agesidamus of iEtna ; victorious in the 
•chariot-race at the Pythian games in Sicyon ; to whom also the first 
Nemean Ode is inscribed. The ode was composed some years after 
the victory which it celebrates, probably in 01. 77, 1. B.C. 472. It 
is to be observed that the last three so-called Nemean Odes do 
not celebrate Nemean victories. f( Some of the epinikia," says Muller 
(Hist, of the Lit. of Ancient Greece, p. 221), ' ' belong to other games. 
Por example, the second Pythian is not a Pythian Ode, but probably 
belongs to games of Iolaus at Thebes. The ninth Nemean celebrates 
a victory in the Pythia at Sicyon, not at Delphi. The tenth Nemean 
celebrates a victory in the Hecatombaea at Argos. The eleventh 
Nemean is not an epinikion, but was sung at the installation of a 
prytanis at Tenedos. Probably the Nemean Odes were placed at the 
end of the collection, after the Isthmian ; so that a miscellaneous 
supplement could be appended to them." 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 7 : Proemium. The poet exhorts the Muses to leave Sicyon for 
.ZEtna, and to come to the house of Chromius, who is celebrating his 
victory won in the Sicyonian Pythia ; 8 — 27 : which were founded by 
Adrastus. The greatness and might of Adrastus, and the luckless 
expedition against Thebes undertaken by that hero. 28 — 47 : The 
poet returns to the subject before him, offers his prayers for the city 
of JEtna, praises the glory of Chromius in war, his wealth and great- 
ness. 48 — end : The ode concludes in a joyous and festive strain, 
with a promise of some future encomiastic songs that may be sung at 
the banquet, after the procession of the victor. 

XiET us go in joyous procession from Apollo, a O ye Muses, 
from Sicyon, to the newly-founded .ZEtna, to the joyous 
house of Chromius, where the wide-opened doors give way 
to the guests. 

Come then, achieve the sweet poetic hymn. For' mounting 
his car victorious in the race he announces a song in honour 
of the mother b and her twin children, the joint watchers 
over lofty Pytho. 

There is a certain saying among men that one should not 
conceal in the ground in silence a brave deed well accom- 
plished ; for a divine strain of poetry is fitting to mighty 

a v. 1 : i. e. from the Pythian games in his honour. 

b v. 3 : i. e. Latona. c v. 3 : i. e. Apollo and Artemis. 



NEMEAX IX. 129 

praises/ 1 But come, let us arouse the sounding lyre and 
the pipe to tell of the very prime of equestrian contests, 
which Adrastus ordained for Phoebus on the streams of the 
Asopus ; which I calling to mind, will adorn with renowned 
honours the hero, who then reigning there, with new fes- 
tivals and with contests of the strength of men, and with 
cars adorned-with-carving, did proclaim and ennoble the 
state. e For he fled from Amphiaraus the-bold-in-thought 
a,nd from dread sedition, far away from the home of his 
fathers and from Argos ; and the sons of Talaus f were no 
longer rulers, having been prevailed over by faction. 

But a superior man ends a former quarrels And they 11 
by giving Eriphyle who slew her lord as a wife to the son 
of Oicleus, like as one gives a faithful pledge of alliance, 
became the greatest of the yellow-haired Danai. Thereupon 
indeed did they of yore lead to the seven-gated Thebes a 
host of men in the path of unpropitious omens ; nor did the 
son of Cronus by whirling round his lightning incite them, 
maddened as they were, to march from their homes, but he 
bade them abstain from their journey. So then the crowd 
pressed on to arrive at manifest destruction, with their 
brazen coats of armour and with the trappings of their steeds : 
and upon the banks of the Ismenus having averted from 
themselves sweet return, 1 they fed the pale smoke with their 
corpses. J For seven pyres consumed the seven heroes with 
youthful limbs : but for Amphiaraus Zeus with his all- 
powerful bolt clove the deep-bosomed earth, and hid him 
with his horses, before that smitten on his back by the spear 
of Periclymenus he had disgraced his warlike soul ; k for in 
heaven-sent panics there flee even the children of the gods. 

If it were possible, O son of Cronus, I would fain put off 
by my prayers, as loDg as possible, the manly 1 contest for 

d v. 7 : i. e. befits deeds that merit great praise. 

e v. 12 : i. e. did the city honour by having its name proclaimed as 
the victor's native place. f v. 14 : i. e. Adrastus and his brothers. 

& v. 15 : The man that is gifted with ability, or, with prudence, 
knows how to end a pre-existing quarrel. 

h v. 1 7 : i. e. Adrastus and his brothers. 

1 v. 23 : i. e. having fallen there. 

J v. 23 : or, reading awj.iaTa, they, pale corpses, fed the smoke. 

k v. 27 : or, before that he was disgraced in his warlike soul. 

1 v. 28 : Qu. fierce. 

K 



130 NEMEAN IX. 

life and death, with the spears of the Carthaginian host, m 
and I entreat thee, Father Zeus, long to grant to the 
children of the JEtneans the fortune of an orderly state, and 
to raise 11 the city to public festivities. There are in that 
land, indeed, heroes that love the steed and who have souls 
superior to wealth. 

I have spoken a praise incredible to the low crow I ; for the 
sense of honour that brings glory is secretly corrupted by 
gain. Hadst thou served as shield-bearer to Chroraius 
amongst the foot-soldiers and the cavalry, and in the con- 
tests of ships, thou couldst have judged of his courage amidst 
the danger of the sharp fight ; since in war that goddess P 
urged his warlike spirit to drive back the pest of Enyalius.i 
But few are able to counsel how with hands and soul to 
turn the cloud of war that is upon them upon the ranks of 
the enemies. Verily for Hector it is said that glory bloomed 
near the streams of the Scamander ; and upon the steep- 
cliffed banks of the Helorus, where men call the place the 
ford of the fountain of Ares, r this light of victory looked on 
the son of Agesidamus in the first years of manhood. And 
other deeds will I assert to have been achieved by him, 
on other days, many a one on the dusty land, and others on 
the neighbouring sea. 

For from toils that are performed in youth and justly 
done, there ariseth to old age a life of calmness. 5 Let 
Chromlus know that he has obtained from the deities mar- 
vellous bliss. For if he should bear off honourable fame 
combined with many possessions, it is not possible for mortal 
man to attain still further with his feet to a higher eminence. 

The feast for its part loves quiet ; and victory is nurtured 
with fostering song, ever fresh sprouting ; and near the bowl 
the voice of the poet is bold. 

Let one mingle it 1 then for me, tlie bowl the sweet an- 
nouncer of the revel, and distribute in silver goblets the 

m v. 29: or, with the spears sent by the Phoenicians {or, Cartha- 
ginians). n v. 31 : lit. join. 

v. 33 : i. e. who spare no expense in the games. 

p v. 36 : i. e. Honour. i i. e. Ares, or, War. 

r v. -41 : or, where men call the pass that of Area, or, the pass of the 
fountain of Ares. s v. 11 : i. e. life is tranquil at its close. 

1 v. 50 : i. e. the bowl. 



NEMEAN X. 131 

mighty son of the vine, the goblets which in times past his 
mares having won for Chromius, brought, with the justly- 
plaited 11 crowns of the son of Latona, from the holy Sicyon. 
O Father Zeus, I pray that with the aid of the Charites I 
may celebrate this deed of renown of his, and that I may 
beyond many v honour the victory with my praises, hurling 
as I do my javelin nearest to the Muses' mark. 



NEMEAN X. 

Inscribed to Theaeus, son of ITlias, of Argos, twice victorious in the 
wrestling-match in the Hecatombaea in Argos, where this ode was 
sung on the anniversary of the festival, some time after the victory. 
The dates are uncertain, but the composition of the ode has been 
ingeniously fixed by Dissen as falling between the periods of B.C. 
468 and B.C. 458. 

AEGUHENT. 

1 — 18 : Proemium. The mythical glories of Argos. 19 — 48 : The 
victories of Theaeus at the Argive Hecatombaea, and at the Pythian, 
Isthmian, and Nemean games : the victories of his ancestors. 49 — end: 
Pamphaes, a forefather of Theaeus, was once host of the Dioscuri : 
they are the tutelar gods of the family : tale of the death of Castor : 
made sharer in his brother's immortality. 

Ye Charites, hymn the praises of the city of Danaus and his 
fifty bright-throned daughters, Argos, Here's dwelling-place, 
meet for a divinity ! With numberless praises is it enkin- 
dled a by reason of its valiant deeds. 

Long to tell are the deeds of Perseus concerning Medusa 
the Gorgon, and many are the towns which Argos founded 
in Egypt by the hands of Epaphus : nor did Hypermnestra 
wander from the path of duty, restraining her sword solitary 
of purpose in its sheath. Diomed too did the Bright-eyed 
Maid of the golden hair render in olden times an immortal 
deity, and near Thebes the earth, cleft asunder by the bolts 
of Zeus, received the son of Oicleus,^ a stormy cloud of war. 
In lovely-haired women too does Argos excel : long ago did 
Zeus approaching to Alcmena and to Danae prove the truth 

u v. 52 : i. e. well-earned. v v. 54 : i. e. surpassing all others. 

a v. 2 : or, made illustrious. b i. e. Amphiaraus. 

k2 



132 



NEMEAN X. 



of tliis assertion, and for Adrastus' sire c and for Lynceus lie 
united the fruit of the mind with upright justice. d And 
Argos nursed the spear of Amphitryon. 13 He surpassing in 
bliss came into the kindred f of Zeus, after that clad in 
brazen armour he had slain the Teleboae, and, likened to 
Amphitryon in form, the king of the immortals entered his 
hall bearing the dauntless seed of Heracles ; whose spouse in 
Olympus is Hebe, that walketh with her mother the presiding 
deity of marriage, fairest of goddesses. 

My mouth is too small to tell the whole tale ; to wit, how 
many are the blessings of which the precinct of Argos has 
the portion, s and the satiety 11 of mortals is grievous to incur ; 
but yet hold not thy hand, but awake the well-strung lyre 
and take thought of the games. For the brazen-clad contest 
summons the people to behold the sacrifice of the oxen in 
Here's honour and the decision of the games, where Theseus, 
son of Ulias, conquering, twice won oblivion of the toils 
which he patiently endured. He conquered too the Grecian 
host of yore in Pytho, and at the Isthmus and ZSTemea, after 
he had gone thither with good luck, he won the crown ; and 
to the Muses he gave somewhat to till, 1 thrice at the gates of 
OceanJ having obtained the prize, and thrice on the sacred 
plains according to the law of Adrastus. k O Father Zeus, 
what he desires in his soul, his mouth is silent on ; but in 
thee is the accomplishment and sum of all our doings ; nor, 
bringing as he does a bold spirit to the strife does he deprecate 1 
the glory of victory by reason of a heart that shuns toil. 
Known is this m to Theaeus and to all who contend for the 
prime of the highest prizes: 11 and that highest institution of 

i. e. for Talaus. 

i. e. united prudence and justice in their persons. 

or, Qu. he, i. e. Zeus, fostered the courage of Amphitryon. 

*. e. was admitted into the family of. 

i. e. how many glories the sacred soil of Argos claims as its 
h v. 20 : i. e. the sated ear. 

i. e. he gave them somewhat to do, matter for a song. 

i. e. at the Isthmus. k *. e. at Nemea. 

i. e. he does not deprecate. 

i. e. the glory, or, the sweetness of victory. 

or, perhaps, known to Theseus and to every one who contends 
for the highest prizes is this, viz. that one needs courage to obtain the fjAze: 
or, again taking jvioto, as a neut. plur., it may be rendered, A thing 
known to Theseus and to him whosoever enters into a contest for the 



c V. 


12: 


d V. 


12: 


e V. 


13: 


* V. 


14: 


& V. 


19: 


share. 




1 v. 


26: 


3 V. 


27: 


1 V. 


30: 


m y 


. 30 


n y 


31: 



NEMEAN X. 133 

Heracles Pisa lias received ; yet twice have the tuneful voices 
of the Athenians, by way of prelude as it were to future vic- 
tories, celebrated him in revel at the holy festival ; ° and in 
earth burnt in fire the fruit of the olive came to the valiant 
people of Here in the all-variegated enclosures of jars.P 

There comes next, O Theseus, to the wide-known race of 
thy mother's ancestors the honour of success in the games 9 
by aid of the Charites and the Tyndaridae conjoined. 1 I 
should claim, were I akin to Thrasyclus and Antias, not to 
veil the light of my eyes at Argos. s 

For with how many victories has this city of Prsetus, 
nurse of the steed, bloomed, both in the recesses where 
Corinth stands,* and four times at the hands of men of 
Cleone ! u And from Sicyon they returned home to Argos re- 
warded with silver wine-cups, and from Pellene having clad 
their backs with the soft woofs. v But the countless brass w 
it is impossible to compute ; for to count them would be a- 
task of longer leisure than I have; and what Cleitor, and 
Tegea, and the cities of the Achseans placed on high, and the 
Lycseum near the sacred 'precinct of Zeus set forth for men to 
win, both in the foot-race and with might of hands. 

Since Castor and his brother Polydeuces came as guests to 
Pamphaes, no marvel that it should be innate in them x to be 
mighty athletes ; inasmuch as they, guardian-deities of spa- 
cious Sparta, preside, in conjunction with Hermes and with 

highest honours in the public games : now 'tis Pisa that hath the supreme 
ordinance of Heracles, i. e. Theseus knows that the Olympic contests- 
are above all others, and therefore has not as yet ventured to engage in 
them. ° v. 34 : i. e. at the Panathensea. 

p v. 35 : i. e. oil in quaintly-coloured vases was brought by him as a 
prize from the Panathenaic games to Argos. 

q v. 37 : or, the honour or glory of successful contests. 

r v. 38 : or, the glory of victory in the games waits on the wide- 
known race of thy ancestors, by the favour at once of the Charites and of 
the children of Tyndarus. The only difficulty is 'iirtrai cum accusativo ; 
but it surely may stand, meaning something less than the construction 
with the dative, which is, to follow, in the sense of "subservience" or 
"obedience." 

s v. 40 : i.e. I should not, were I a relative of Thrasyclus and Antias, 
cast down my eyes for shame at Argos. 

1 i. e. in the Isthmian games. u %. e. at Nemea. 

v *. e. and from Pellene they returned with their backs clad with 
the cloaks of soft wool, which they had won as prizes. 

w v. 45 : i. e. the brazen arms and tripods that they had won. 

x v. 50 : i. e. in his descendants, the family of Theseus. 



134 NEMEAN X. 

Heracles, over the blooming lot of the contests, making men 
of upright life their special care ; for faithful of a surety is 
the race of the gods. With interchange, in turn one day do 
they enjoy with their Father Zeus, and one do they spend 
beneath the depths of the earth in the dells of Therapne, 
filling up an equal doom : since, when Castor perished in 
war, Polydeuces preferred this mode of existence rather than 
to be himself altogether a god and dwell in heaven. For him y 
did Idas, incensed somehow concerning his herd, wound 
with the point of his brazen spear. Gazing keenly after 
them from Taygetus, Lynceus beheld them sitting in ambush 
in the trunk of an oak. For his, of all earthly men, was the 
most piercing eye. With nimble feet forthwith they 2 arrived 
and quickly wrought a bold deed ; viz., the death of Castor. 
And grievous retribution the sons of Aphareus suffered at 
the hands of Zeus ; for immediately the son of Leda came 
in hot pursuit, and they over against him took their post 
hard by their fathers' tomb : thence snatching a decoration 
of Death, a polished stone, a they hurled it at the breast of 
Polydeuces ; but they crushed him not, nor drove him back ; 
but rushing on straightway with spear swift in motion, he 
drove the brass into the sides of Lynceus. And Zeus hurled 
upon Idas his smouldering thunderbolt, and they both were 
burnt together reft of mourners ; for a contest with the 
powerful ones b is hard for men to deal with. 

Speedily to his mighty brother the Son of Tyndareus 
returned back, and him he found not as yet dead, but with 
short-drawn gasp ruckling forth his breath. c Then shedding 
warm tears with groans he cried loud and clear : — 

" Father, son of Cronus, what end then shall there be of 
my sorrows ! For me also together with him ordain death, 
O monarch. Honour is departed from the man that is de- 
prived of his friends ; and in distress few are there of 
mortals faithful enough to go shares in toil." Thus he spoke, 
and Zeus before him came and uttered this reply : — 

" Thou art my son ; but him engendered after thee of mor- 

y i. e. Castor. z i. e. Idas and Lynceus. 

11 v. 67 : i.e. the head-stone of the grave. 
b v. 72 : i. e. with the gods. 

c v. 74 : or, with short-drawn gasp trembling in his breath, i. e. 
" gasping with the death-ruckle in his throat." — Cook. 



NEMEAN XI. 135 

tal seed did her hero husband in approach to thy mother 
beget. But come ; of these things in sooth I yet give thee 
choice : if on the one hand thou art willing to escape death 
and hateful old age, and to inhabit Olympus in company 
with Athene and with Ares of the spear black with blood, 
there is to thee indeed a rightful share of tins ; d but if in 
thy brother's behalf thou contendest, and art minded to 
share out to him an equal lot of all thou hast, then half thy 
life thou must breathe beneath the earth, and half in the 
golden abodes of heaven." 

Thus then when he {Zeus) spoke, no wavering resolution 
did Polydeuces adopt in his mind. And Zeus unclosed the 
eye and then let loose the voice of the brazen-belted Castor. e 



NEMEAN XI. 

Inscribed to Aristagoras, son of Arcesilaus, of Tenedos : sung at the 
Prytaneum in Tenedos, in commemoration of the inaugural sacrifice 
upon his entrance into the office of Prytanis. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 10 : Proemium. Invocation of Vesta, the tutelar goddess of the 
Prytaneum, in behalf of Aristagoras, now entering upon his office. 
11 — 37 : Praise of the success of Aristagoras in the public games of 
the surrounding states. The renown of his ancestors. 37 — end : 
The victor is warned against excessive pride and ambitious hopes, that 
might set him on aspiring to grasp at what is too high for him. 

O Hestia, child of Rhea, who art the tutelary deity of the 
city-halls, sister of highest Zeus and of Here who shares the 
same throne, benignly receive Aristagoras into thy dwelling- 
place, and benignly too his companions, near thy brilliant 
sceptre ; who, honouring thee, preserve Tenedos in safety, 
often with libations paying reverence to thee before all 
goddesses, and often with the steam of sacrifice. And their 
lyre sounds loudly and their song, and Themis daughter of 
Zeus a that presides over hospitality is honoured with ever- 
flowing banquets. Grant that with glory he may go through 

d v. 85 : i.e. this is thy inheritance by right, hut not thy brother's. 
e v. 94 : i. e. restored his sight and speech once more. 
a v. 8 : i. e. or, the justice of Zeus, &c. 



136 NEMEAN XL 

his magisterial office of twelve months' length with un- 
wounded heart. b And for a man I pronounce his father 
Arcesilaus happy, c and praise his marvellous stature and his 
innate constancy of mind. But if any one, possessing wealth, 
in beauty of form shall surpass others, and prevailing in the 
games hath displayed his might, let him remember that he 
dresses limbs that are mortal, d and that last of all he will 
clothe himself with earth. Yet by the laudatory voices of 
his fellow-citizens is it due that he be praised, and that I 
should celebrate him embellished with sweet-sounding songs. 

And sixteen splendid victories gained from the neigh- 
bouring states crowned Aristagoras and the fortunate clan 
of the Peisandridce in the wrestling-match and in the glorious 
pancratium. 

But the too timid e hopes of his parents restrained the 
might of their son from attempting the contests in Pytho 
and in Olympia. For verily by my oath, in my opinion, at 
Castalia and at the hill of Cronus abounding with fair trees, 
had he gone thither, he would have returned more honour- 
ably than his adversaries that contested the prize against 
him; having celebrated with festal pomp the solemnity of 
Heracles that cometh every fifth year and having bound his 
locks with bright wreaths. But of mortals one has empty- 
minded pride cast out from expected blessings, while another, 
distrusting over much his own strength, his spirit wanting 
boldness, dragging him back by the hand, has made him 
miss blessings that would have been his own. 

It were easy, however, to conjecture the ancient Spartan 
blood of Peisander/ (for he Peisander came hither s from 
Anryclse with Orestes, leading with him over the sea a host 
of the -^Eolians armed in brass), and to conjecture tlie blood 
descended from his maternal ancestor Melanippus mingled 
with the blood of Peisander at the stream of the Ismenus. 

The virtues that our forefathers have bequeathed to us 
bring back in alternation their strength to the generations 



h v. 10 : i.e. without vexation and trouble. 
c v. 11 : or, and happy I pronounce his hero father Arcesilaus. 
d v. 15: Qu. that he is robed in mortal limbs. 
e v. 22 : i. e. sluggish, or, too hesitating. 

f v. 33 : i. e. it is easy to recognize in Aristagoras the blood of the 
Spartan Peisander. '* v. 34 : i. e. to Tenedos. 



NEMEAN XI. 137 

of men ; h and in continuous routine neither do the black 
corn lands give forth their harvest, nor are the trees wont 
at every revolution of the year to bear the scented flower 
equal in richness; 1 but in alternation are they wont to bear. 
And in this wise does destiny guide the mortal race. 

As to what shall befall us from Zeus, no sure presage 
attends men, whereby they may foreknow tlie decrees of Pro- 
vidence; but still we indulge bold designs, and are eagerly 
bent on many schemes ; for the limbs of man are bound by 
insatiate hope,J but the courses of human actions and of 
future events lie far remote from our forethought. 

It behoves us to hunt after the due proportion of gain ; k 
but the madness for objects of desire, not to be obtained, is 
very keen. 

h v. 38 : i. e. they show themselves in their descendants, in alternate 
generations. 

1 v. 41 : i. e. in equal abundance. 

j v. 45 : i. e. hope binds the frame of men with a strong enchantment. 

k v. 47 : i. e. to urge the pursuit of gain in moderation. 



ISTHMIAN ODES 



INTRODUCTION TO THE ISTHMIAN ODES. 



(From Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.) 

Isthmian Games ("Io-fyaa), one of the four great national 
festivals of the Greeks. This festival derived its name from 
the Corinthian isthmus, where it was held. Where the 
isthmus is narrowest, between the coast of the Saronic gulf 
and the western foot of the CEnean hills, was the temple of 
Poseidon, and near it was a theatre and a stadium, of white 
marble. The entrance to the temple was adorned with an 
avenue of statues of the victors in the Isthmian games, and 
with groves of pine-trees. These games were said originally 
to have been instituted by Sisyphus in honour of Melicertes, 
who was also called Palsernon. 

Their original mode of celebration partook, as Plutarch 
remarks, more of the character of mysteries, than of a great 
.and national assembly, with its various amusements, and 
was performed at night. Subsequent to the age of Theseus, 
the Isthmia were celebrated in honour of Poseidon ; and 
this innovation is ascribed to Theseus himself, who, accord- 
ing to some legends, was a son of Poseidon, and who, in the 
institution of the new Isthmian solemnities, is said to have 
imitated Heracles, the founder of the Olympian games. 

The celebration of the Isthmia was henceforth con- 
ducted by the Corinthians, but Theseus had reserved 
for his Athenians some honourable distinctions ; those 



142 INTRODUCTION TO THE 

Athenians who attended the Isthmia sailed across the 
Saronic gulf in a sacred vessel (Sew pie), and an honorary- 
place (TrpoeSpia.) as large as the sail of their vessel was 
assigned to them during the celebration of the games. In 
times of war between the two states, a sacred truce was 
concluded, and the Athenians were invited to attend at the 
solemnities. The Eleans did not take part in the games, 
and various stories were related to account for this singular 
circumstance. It is a very probable conjecture of Wachsmuth, 
that the Isthmia, after the changes ascribed to Theseus, 
were merely a panegyris of the Ionians of Peloponnesus 
and those of Attica ; for it should be observed, that Posei- 
don was an Ionian deity, whose worship appears originally 
to have been unknown to the Dorians. During the reign of 
the Cypselids at Corinth, the celebration of the Isthmian games 
was suspended for seventy years : but after this time they 
gradually rose to the rank of a national festival of all the 
Greeks. In Olympiad 49 they became periodical, and were 
henceforth celebrated regularly every third year, twice in 
every Olympiad, that is, in the first and third year of 
every Olympiad. The Isthmia held in the first year of an 
Olympiad fell in the Corinthian month Panemus (the Attic 
Hecatombaeon) ; and those which were held in the third 
year of an Olympiad, fell either in the month of Munychion 
or Thargelion. Pliny and Solinus erroneously state that 
the Isthmia were celebrated every fifth year. With this 
regularity the solemnities continued to be held by the 
Greeks down to a very late period. In 228 B.C. the Romans 
were allowed the privilege of taking part in the Isthmia ; 
and it was in this solemnity, that, in 196 B.C., Flaminius 
proclaimed before an innumerable assembly the inde- 
pendence of Greece. After the fall of Corinth in 146 B.C., 
the Sicyonians were honoured with the privilege of con- 
ducting the Isthmian games ; but when the town of Corinth 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 143 

was rebuilt by Julius Caesar, the right of conducting the 
solemnities was restored to the Corinthians, and it seems that 
they henceforth continued to be celebrated, till Christianity 
became the state religion of the Roman empire. The season 
of the Isthmian solemnities was like that of all the great 
national festivals, distinguished by general rejoicings and 
feasting. 

The contests and games of the Isthmia were the same as 
those at Olympia, and embraced all the varieties of athletic 
performances, such as wrestling, the pancratium, together 
with horse and chariot-racing. Musical and poetical per- 
formances were likewise carried on, and in the latter women 
were also allowed to take part, as we must infer from 
Plutarch ; who, on the authority of Polemo, states, that in 
the treasury in Sicyon there was a golden book which had 
been presented to it by Aristomache, the poetess, after she 
had gained the victory at the Isthmia. At a late period of 
the Roman empire, the character of the games at the Isthmia 
appears greatly altered ; for, in the letter of the Emperor 
Julian, it is stated that the Corinthians purchased bears and 
panthers for the purpose of exhibiting their fights at the 
Isthmia ; and it is not improbable that the custom of intro- 
ducing fights of animals on this occasion commenced soon after 
the time of Caesar. The prize of a victor in the Isthmian 
games consisted at first of a garland of pine-leaves, and after- 
wards of a wreath of ivy ; but in the end the ivy was again 
superseded by a pine-garland. Simple as such a reward was, 
a victor in the games gained the greatest distinction and 
honour among his countrymen ; and a victory not only 
rendered the individual who obtained it a subject of admira- 
tion, but shed lustre over his family, and the whole town or 
community to which he belonged. Hence, Solon established 
by a law, that every Athenian who gained the victory at 
the Isthmian games, should receive from the public treasury 



144 INTRODUCTION TO THE ISTHMIAN ODES. 

a reward of one hundred drachmae. His victory was gene- 
rally celebrated in lofty odes, called Epinikia, or triumphal 
odes, of which we still possess some beautiful specimens 
among the poems of Pindar. 



145 



ISTHMIAN I. 

Inscribed to Herodotus, son of Asopodorus, of Thebes, victorious in the 
chariot-race at the Isthmian games, perhaps in 01. 80, 3. B.C. 454. 
Written and sung at Thebes, probably some short time, according to 
Dissen's conjecture, before the battles of Tanagra and GSnophyta, 
B.C. 457 and 456. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 13 : Proemium. The poet affirms that he has laid aside a Paean 
which he was about to compose for the people of Ceos, that he might 
first finish this hymn in honour of the renown won by his native 
country. 14 — 32 : The Castoreum, or Equestrian strain, in honour 
of Herodotus' victory in the four -horse car. 32 — 40 : The vicissitudes 
of fortune, exile and subsequent restoration to his country, experienced 
by Asopodorus, the father of the conqueror. 41 — end : The praises 
and victories of Herodotus. 

Thebe, with shield of gold, my mother, I will hold thy con- 
cern superior even to want of leisure. 21 Let not rocky Delos, 
in which I am absorbed, be angry with me ! What is dearer 
to the virtuous than cherished parents ? Yield, O isle of 
Apollo ; of both hymns b will I, with the favour of the gods, 
combine the completion, celebrating in chorus both Phoebus 
■with unshorn hair, in wave-washed Ceos along with the men of 
the ocean, and the sea-fenced ridge of the Isthmus : since it 
has granted to the host of Cadmus six crowns from the games, 
the glory of noble victory to my native country. That 
country in which too Alcmena brought forth her dauntless 
son, before whom of yore the bold hounds of Geryon shook 
with dread. 

But I composing for Herodotus a reward partly for his 
four-horse car, and as guiding too the reins with no other 
hands than his own, am desirous to enrol him either in a 
Castoreum, or in a hymn such as is sung in honour of Iolaus. 
For of all the heroic race they were born the best to guide 
the car at Lacedsemon and at Thebes, and in the games they 

a v. 2 : i. c. occupied as I am, that which concerns thee shall take pre- 
cedence ; or, I will esteem thy work as more important than my present 
occupation, i. e. I will prefer the composition of this ode in thy honour, 
to my present employment of preparing a Paean for the inhabitants of 
Ceos. b v. 6 : lit. of both honours. 

L 



146 ISTHMIAN I. 

tried numerous contests, and with tripods did they adorn 
their home, and with caldrons and with bowls of gold, enjoy- 
ing crowns of victory : and brilliantly does their excellence 
shine forth both in the unarmed stadia, and in the armed 
race-course clattering with the shield ; and in what fashion, 
hurling them with their hands, did they throw with their 
spears, and how did they throw whenever they hurled with the 
stony quoits ! For the five-fold contest was not yet; but for 
each game a separate prize was appointed, with the numerous 
wreaths of which having ofttimes bound then locks, they 
were seen near the streams of Dirce and the Eurotas ; they, 
the son of Iphicles being of the same people with the race 
of the Sown-men, and the son of Tyndarus dwelling amongst 
the Achseans in the lofty-placed seat of Therapne. 

Farewell ! and I, for Poseidon, and for the divine Isthmus, 
and for the shores of Onchestus cherishing a song, will 
amidst the honours of this man sing of the renowned fortune 
of his father Asopodorus and the paternal soil of Orchome- 
nus, which in chill mishap received him from the immeasur- 
able sea, hard pressed with shipwreck ; but now again the 
good fortune of his race has brought him into his former 
honour and glory. But he that has endured adversity, gains 
in his mind discretion too. But if virtue is applied with all 
its zeal, to those who have attained to its honour both by 
liberality and industry, it is right to bring a noble praise 
with no envious mind. c 

Since light is the gift for the poet, in return for manifold 
toils, by singing a strain of praise, to rear a trophy of glory 
common to all. 

For various rewards proposed for their works are pleasing 
to various men, both to the shepherd, and to the ploughman, 
and to the fowler, and to him to whom the sea gives 
support ; and each one exerts himself to ward off direful 
hunger from his stomach. But he who in games, or in 

c v. 41 : or, But if the prize of virtue or glory lies before one with all 
one's might, i. e. if it is proposed by any man to be pursued with all his 
might, both with expense and with toil, it is right to bestow on those 
who have obtained it (viz. dperdv, the reputation for noble deeds), 
magnificent praise with no grudging spirit. This is Hermann's reading, 
which Bergk adopts. Dissen, Boeckh, and Donaldson, read ei c' dptrq. 
KardKurai, k. r. X. But if any one (rig) applies himself to the pursuit 
of honour with all his might, &c. 



ISTHMIAN I. 147 

battle bears off beauteous glory, receives by beiug praised the 
highest gain, the choice speech of citizens and of strangers. 

But us it behoves, gratefully requiting him with a song, 
loudly to celebrate the earth-shaking son of Cronus, dwelling 
near at hand, him that prospers the chariots in the 
horse-race, d and to invoke thy sons, Amphitryon, and the 
recess of Minyas, c and Eleusis the far-famed grove of 
Demeter, and Euboea in the crooked courses ; f and thy sacred 
precinct in Phylace amongst the Achaeans, O Protesilaus, do 
I add. But to enumerate at length all the honours that 
Hermes, president of the games, has given to the horses of 
Herodotus, my song having brief measure denies to me. 
Often too, of a surety, does that which is passed over in si- 
lence bring greater pleasure. 

Would that he, borne aloft on the splendid pinions of 
the sweet-voiced Pierides, may yet fill his hand full with 
branches s from Pytho, and with chosen leaves of the 
Olympic games from the banks of the Alpheus, getting 
honour for seven-gated Thebes ! 

But if any one storeth up within secret wealth, and 
laughs with insulting taunt at others icho act differently, he 
does not consider that he will yield his soul to Hades devoid 
of glory. 

d v. 54 : lit. the benefactor of the chariots, that presideth in, of 
belongeth to, the horse-race. 

e v. 56 : i. e. Orchomenus. f v. 57 : i. e. where the races are held. 
s v. 66 : i. e. wreaths. 



l2 



148 



ISTHMIAN II. 

Yv'ritten to celebrate the Isthmian victory in the chariot-race, and 
other victories gained by Xenocrates, son of iEnesidamus, and brother 
to Thero of Agrigentum ; sent to Thrasybulus, son of Xenocrates, 
after his father's death, by Nicasippus. The victory was gained 
01. 76/1. B.C. 476 ; but the ode composed not before 01. 77, 1. B.C. 
474. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 2 : Proemium. The Muse has now to work for hire : the poet 
therefore begs that Thrasybulus, the son of the now deceased con- 
queror, will excuse the delay that had occurred in fulfilling his 
promise to send this ode. 12 — 34 : The victories in the chariot-race 
at the Isthmian, Pythian, and Athenian games won by Xenocrates, 
and the victory of Thero (the brother of Xenocrates), at the Olympian 
games. 35 — end : The virtues of Xenocrates : the poet ends by 
begging Thrasybulus not to fail, through fear of envy, to have this 
ode recited. 

The men of ancient time, O Thrasybulus, who ascended into 
the car of the Muses with-frontlet-of-gold, falling into the 
■company of a the famous lyre, lightly uttered melodious 
hymns in praise of youths, namely for him whoever being 
gifted with beauty possessed the summer-bloom of puberty, 
the sweetest reminder of fair-enthroned Aphrodite. For the 
Muse was not at that time as yet a lover of gain nor a hire- 
ling, nor were sweet, soft-voiced songs, with silver in their 
faces, ^ sold by honey-toned Terpsichore. 

But now she {the Muse) bids us observe or attend to the 
saying of the Argive {Aristodemus) that approacheth very 
near the paths of truth ; " Money, money is c the man," and 
this he said when deserted both of wealth and of friends. 

Since now thou art wise 7" need add no more, and tlterefore 
I pass on and sing the Isthmian victory not unknown to 
fame, won by the chariot steeds ; the victory which Poseidon 
having granted to Xenocrates, sent him by the hands of his 
charioteer a wreath of Dorian parsley to bind around Ins 
hair ; Poseidon, I say, honouring the hero victorious in the 
chariot-race, the light of the Agrigentines. And at Crisa 

a v. 2 : or, approaching. b v. 8 : or, with mercenary looks. ] 

c v. 11 : i. e. makes. 



ISTHMIAN II. 140 

widely-potent Apollo beheld him with favour and granted 
him glory there also ; and being furnished with d the illus- 
trious honours of the Erechtheidse in brilliant Athens, he 
blamed not the chariot-preserving hand of the hero that 
drove the steeds, which hand Nicomachus applied at the 
right moment to all the reins. Nicomachus whom too the 
heralds of the seasons,* 3 the Elean announcers of the truce of 
Zeus the son of Cronus, recognized ; having experienced 
from him, I ween, some hospitable office, and they saluted 
him with sweetly-breathing voice as he fell into the lap of 
golden victory in their own land, which in truth they call 
the sacred precinct of Olympian Zeus ; where the sons of 
./Enesidamus were united to immortal honours. For your 
house, O Thrasybulus, is not unacquainted with charming 
triumphal revels, nor with songs of honied praise. 

For it is no hill, nor is the path steep/ if any one should 
bring the honours of the Dwellers on Helicon to tlie abodes of 
honoured men. 

Hurling the quoit afar, may I fling it as great a length, 
as Xenocrates has possessed a disposition sweet beyond other 
men ! S Dignified indeed he was in his intercourse with his 
fellow-citizens, and one that cultivated the rearing of the 
steed according to the rule of universal Greece ; and he wel- 
comed 11 all the feasts of the gods ; nor did the fair-wind of 
bounty, breathing around his hospitable table, ever make him 
lower his sail, 1 but he passed in his course to the Phasis in 
the summer season, and in the winter to the banks of Nile. .i 
Let not Thrasybulus therefore, because envious feelings k 
hang round the minds of mortals, let him not, / say, conceal 1 
the worth of his father, nor these my hymns : since I have 
not wrought them to stand idle. 

'' v. 19 : i. e. having won. 

e v. 23 : i. e. of the seasons of the occurrence of tlte Olympian games. 

f v. 33 : i. e. the path of song is neither steep nor rough. 

B v. 36 : i. e. may I cast the discus of praise and eulogy as far heyond' 
every other competitor, as the temper of Xenocrates exceeds every other 
man's in sweetness. 

h v. 38 : i. e. freely honoured, or, duly celebrated. 

| v. 40: i. e. his hospitable spirit never diminished; or, never failed him. 

J v. 42 : i. c. his liberality knew no bounds. 

k v. 43 : or, the hopes of the envious. 

1 v. 44 : or, pass over unhonoured. 



150 ISTHMIAN III. 

This message, Nicasippus, report, when thou shalt have 
come to my trusty friend. 



ISTHMIAN III. 

Inscribed to Melissus, son of Telesias, of Thebes, victorious in the 
chariot-race at Nemea, and afterwards in the pancratium at the 
Isthmian games ; the latter of which victories is the one here 
celebrated : sung at Thebes, at an evening revel, Dissen thinks, of 
the family of the CleonymidEe (Cf. v. 61), probably some years after 
the battle of Platsea (Cf. v. 34, 35), which was fought in B.C. 479. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 6 : Proemium. Wealth and success is lasting when conjoined with 
a modest and temperate spirit. 7 — 18 : Melissus has won two 
victories, one in the pancratium, one in the chariot-race. The poet 
commemorates the latter, and the relationship of the conqueror to 
the wealthy house of the Labdacidse. 19 — 60 : The praises of the 
Cleonymidae, the family of the conqueror ; their vicissitudes of 
fortune ; the death of four of their house in the recent battle (probably 
of Platsea), and their subsequent successes in the public games. 
61 — end : The Isthmian victory of Melissus ; his former victories in 
the games celebrated at the funeral rites of the sons of Heracles. 

If any man being successful either in glorious games or in 
abundance of wealth, sets bounds in his soul to wearisome 
insolence, he is worthy to be mingled with a the praises of the 
citizens. 

Zeus, from thee mighty excellences attend mortals, and 
the bliss of the religious flourishes longer, but with froward 
minds it dwells not equally, blooming throughout all time. 
But as a requital for glorious deeds we ought to sing the 
good, and we ought to exalt him with kindly praises, b as he 
celebrates the festal meeting. Melissus also has the fortune 
of two prizes so as to turn his heart to sweet gladness, as he 
has obtained the crowns in the dells of the Isthmus ; and also 
in the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion he proclaimed 
Theba, c conquering, as he did, in the horse-race. And he 
disgraces not the innate prowess of his lineage. 

Ye know, surely, the ancient glory of Cleonymus gained by 

a v. 3 : i.e. to obtain. 

b v. 8 : or, offerings, i. e. with pleasing hymns. 

c v. 12 : i. e. as the deity of his native place. 



ISTHMIAN III. 151 

the car ; and since by the mother's side they were kindred to 
the Labdacida?, they abounded with wealth for the toils of 
the four-horsed chariots. But time, as the days go round, 
produces at one time one change, and at one time another, 
yet the sons of the gods assuredly alone are invulnerable. 

I have, by the grace of the gods, an endless path open to 
me in every direction, Melissus : for, at the Isthmia, thou 
hast furnished me with facilities to follow up your virtues 
with a hymn: d those virtues with which the Cleonymidse 
ever bloom abundantly, as they pass, with the aid of heaven, 
through the whole period of man's life. But variously at 
various times does the gale of human fortune burst upon and 
urge on in their career all men. They e assuredly are said to 
have been honoured of yore at Thebes, and to have been the 
public hosts of the neighbouring states, and free from noisy 
insolence ; and whatever poetic testimonies of exceeding 
glory related concerning deceased or living heroes fly to and 
fro amongst men, these they have gained in all perfection ; 
and in the highest acts of manhood displayed by their family 
they have reached the pillars of Heracles. Desire not to 
attain to a further glory ! For they were both trainers of 
the steed, and they pleased brazen Ares. But, alas ! in one 
day a fierce snow-storm of war bereaved the happy household 
hearth of four heroes; but now again, after the wintry 
darkness of the changing months, like the earth it has 
blossomed with purple roses, by the counsels of the gods. f 
Since the Shaker of the earth, who inhabits Onchestus and 
the ocean bridge before the walls of Corinth, by granting to 
the family of Melissus this wondrous hymn, raises from its 
couch the ancient fame of their noble deeds ; for she s had 
fallen asleep ; but wakened up again she is resplendent in her 
whole frame, like Lucifer conspicuous amongst the other 

d v. 21 : or, I have, by the grace of the gods, an endless journey, 
i. e. a boundless subject of praise on all sides, Melissus; for at the 
Isthmian games thou didst show great skill, [Qu. great opportunity, or, 
abundant matter for praise,] so that we should commemorate thy virtues 
by song. e v. 25 : they, i. e. the Cleonyniidae. 

1 v. 36 : or, but now again by the decree of the gods this household 
has blossomed again, like the earth, after the wintry darkness, as the 
changing months return : — or, it may be rendered, during the flowery 
months, — when the months adorned with flowers (i. e. the spring time) 
blossom with purple flowers. s v. 40 : i. e. Fame. 



152 ISTHMIAN III. 

stars. "Which fame in the fields of Athens too, having pro- 
claimed that their chariot won, and in the Adrastean con- 
tests of Sicyon, gave them wreaths of triumphal song similar 
to these from the poets of that time. Nor from the common 
assemblies did they withhold their curved chariot, and they 
rejoiced to contend with all the assembled Greeks in the 
expense for the equipment of their steeds. For to those 
who make no venture belongs inglorious obscurity. But ob- 
scurity of lot belongs even to those who contend, before that 
they have arrived at the highest boundary ; h for fortuiie- 
gives us both of this and of that ; * and the artifice of inferior 
men has caught and supplanted the better man.J Ye know 
no doubt the murderous strength of Ajax, which in the late 
night having maimed with his own sword, he causes disgrace 
to the children of the Greeks, as many as went to Troy. k 
But Homer has honoured him among all men, Homer who, 
by extolling all his merit and greatness, has pointed it out 
for bards of after times to sing according to the canon 1 of 
divine epic verse. For this m travels on, endowed with speech 
to all eternity. But if a poet shall have celebrated aught well, 
then both over the all-fruitful earth and across the ocean 
doth there proceed the splendour of the noble actions that h& 
sings of, ever inextinguishable. 

May we find the Muses propitious so as to light up that 
torch of hymns for Melissus too, a scion of the stock of 
Telesias — a wreath deserved of the Pancratium ! For re- 
sembling them in courage, he attains in the contest to the 
spirit of loudly-roaring lions j but in craft he is a fox, winch 
lying upon its back withstands the swoop of the eagle. 
And it is befitting, by trying every stratagem, to render 
powerless one's foe. For he has not obtained a stature like 

h v. 49 : i. e. even those who contend at the games remain unknown 
to fame before they obtain a victory. 

1 v. 51 : i. e. gives us a portion both of success and of defeat, i. e. a 
chequered lot of prosperity and adversity. 

J v. 53 : i. e. oftentimes overthrows the better man. 

k v. 54 : i. e. ye have heard surely of the warlike Ajax, who, by 
falling on his own sword at the dead of night, reflects censure and 
shame on all the Greeks who went to Troy. 

1 v. 56 : or, the mode, measure. Qu. the authority. Sferr. iir. ren- 
dered by some, " of his own divine strains ;" but I think what I have 
given in the text to be perhaps nearer the sense of the passage. 

m v. 58 : i. e. poetical distinction, or praise. 



ISTHMIAN III. 153 

Orion's, but is contemptible to view, though mighty in 
strength for one to contend with. 

But yet hi like fashion there came of yore from Cadmean. 
Thebes to the dwelling of Antaeus, a hero short in stature, 
but in soul unconquerable ; he came, I say, to wheat-bearing 
Libya to wrestle ivith a foe, in order that he might restrain 
the man that roofed the temple of Poseidon with the sculls 
of strangers ; — he came, I say, the son of Alcmena ; 

Who ascended to Olympus, after that he had explored 
both every land and the surface of the hoary sea with-lofty- 
cliffs, and had rendered the sea safe to navigation. And 
now by the ^Egis-bearer doth he dwell, enjoying the fairest 
bliss, and is honoured by the immortals as a friend, and has 
Hebe in marriage, being lord of a golden mansion, and 
son-in-law of Here. 

In whose honour, above the Electran gates, we citizens, 
making ready the banquet and the fresh garlands of the 
altars, sacrifice victims in honour of the eight deceased brass- 
clad ivarriors, whom Megara, the daughter of Creon, bore to, 
him as sons ; to whom, at the setting of the sun, the flame 
ascending on high lasts blazing all night long, lashing heaven- 
with the steaming vapour ; and on the second day succeeds 
the prize 11 of the annual games, the work of strength, 
Where, with his head crowned with the pale myrtle, this 
man has displayed a double victory, and a third before 
amongst the youths, having obeyed the exceedingly wise 
advice of his pilot that directed the helm.P And along with 
Orseas will I celebrate him in the revel, dropping upon him 
sweet praise. 

n v. 85: <n% the winning. 

° v. 88 : Qu. with pale myrtle herries. 

p v. 89 : i. e. of his trainer Orseas, that instructed him. 



154 



ISTHMIAN IV. 

Inscribed to Phylacidas, son of Lampo, of JEgina, victorious in the 
pancratium at the Isthmian games : probably in 01. 75, 3. B.C. 478, 
two years after the battle of Salamis (Cf. v. 49) : sung at ^Egina. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 11: Proemium. Invocation and power of Theia (also called Chryse), 
the goddess of wealth. 12 — 19 : Praise of the three victories won by 
Phylacidas, and of the one won by his brother Pytheas. 19 — 53 : The 
praises of the achievements in war of ^-Egina, the mythical deeds of the 
iEacidse at Troy, and the lately-won glory of the iEginetan fleet at 
Salamis. 54 — end : The poet returns to the praises of the victories in 
the games won by the conqueror's family, and especially by Pytheas. 

Theia, mother of the sun, worshipped under many titles, 
through thee it is that men esteem potent gold far beyond 
all other things ; for ships contending in the ocean and 
horses in the chariots are through thy favour, queen, 
admired in the quick-whirling encounters. And in the 
contests of the games he too hath gained much-desired 
glory, whose locks numerous crowns have wreathed, vic- 
torious either by might of hands or by swiftness of feet. 
For the strength of man is proved distinguished through 
the favour of Providence. 

But two things in truth alone cherish the most lovely 
flower of life conjoined with fair-blooming wealth, to wit, if 
any one, being blessed with success, hear himself well spoken 
of. a Seek not to become Zeus : thou hast everything, if the 
inheritance of these blessings come to thee : a mortal lot 
befitteth mortals. Now for thee at the Isthmus, a double 
victory in all its splendour^ O Phylacidas, is laid up in store ; 
and at Nemea a victory in the pancratium is laid up as a 
treasure for you both, for tliee, I say, and for Pytheas thy 
brother. 

But without the iEacidse my heart tastes not the 
sweets of hymns, but with the Charites I have come, in this 
my ode, to the sons of Lampon, to this well-ordered state : 
and since it b has turned itself to the illustrious path of 
heaven-prompted deeds, grudge her not, my soul, the 
befitting praise to mingle with this song, in return for the 

a v. 13 : i. e. if any one gains victory in the games and poetical eulogy 
besides. b v. 22 : i. e. iEgina. 



ISTHMIAN IV. 155 

toils she has undergone. For the valiant warriors among her 
heroes are wont to gain praise, and they are celebrated to 
endless time both on the lyres and with the many-toned 
harmonies of the pipe. 

The mighty (Eneidae too, held in revered hononr through 
the grace of Zeus in the brilliant sacrifices of the JEtolians, 
have given a theme to wise men, c and in Thebes the steed- 
driving Iolaus hath honour, and Perseus in Argos, and the 
warlike might of Castor and of Polydeuces at the streams of 
the Eurotas. But in CEnone d are honoured the stout-hearted 
tempers of ^Eacus and his sons ; who too in battle twice 
sacked the city of the Trojans, following in the train of 
Heracles, the first time, and afterwards with the Atreidae. 

Proceed, now, I pray thee, from the beginning. Say, who 
slew Cycnus, who Hector, and who the fearless captain of the 
host of the Ethiopians, Memnon, clad in brass 1 Who, pray, 
smote with his spear the valiant Telephus beside the banks 
of the Caicus 1 It ivas they whose mouth proclaims the 
glorious isle of iEgina as their country. e And of old has 
JEgina been built on high, as a tower for lofty virtues to 
climb : f full many shafts of praise does my eloquent tongue 
possess to utter loudly concerning them. And so now in 
time of war can Salamis, city of Ajax, testify that she hath 
been preserved by her sailors in the deathful shower of Zeus 
during the hail-storm slaughter of countless heroes. But for 
all that, steep o boasting in silence: 11 Zeus dispenses various 
fortune, Zeus, who is lord of all. But even such glories as 
these 1 love the joyful hymn of victory, bedewed with charm- 
ing honey. 

c v. 28 : Qu. to poets. d v. 34 : i. e. JEgina. 

e v. 43 : or, it xoas they whose native land my mouth declares to be 
iEgina's glorious island. 

f v. 45 : Three interpretations have been given of this passage : 1st, 
by Thiersch, " iEgina has long been a tower for lofty virtues to climb," 
which is followed by Mr. Cookesley. 2nd, by Boeckh, " The ^Eginetans 
have long had a tower — a great monument — erected by their ancient 
heroes for their descendants to climb by means of their own virtues." 
3rd, by Dissen, " For this long time there has stood here a tower built 
up of virtues difficult to climb." One of the first two of these interpre- 
tations is preferred by Mr. Donaldson, whose note I have ventured to 
borrow. & v. 51 : or, drown. 

u v. 51 : Qu. i. e. provoke not hostility or envy by too lengthy an enu- 
meration of JEgina's glories. ' v. 54 : i. e. victories in the games. 



156 ISTHMIAN V. 

Let any one contend with all his toil for prizes in the 
games, after that he has heard of the race of Cleonicus :J 
the long toil of these heroes has not been obscured, nor, 
as many as have been their expenses, has that either im- 
paired k the zeal of their expectations. 1 

I praise Pytheas too, for that with limb-conquering m arms, 
he went a straight course for 11 Phylacidas in the course of 
blows, an adversary, in skill expert. Receive for him a 
crown, and for him bear the woolly fillet, and send therewith 
the new winged hymn. 



ISTHMIAN V. 

Inscribed to the same person ( Phylacidas of ^Egina) as the last ode, in 
honour of a victory in the pancratium at the Isthmian games. This 
ode is prior in time to the foregoing one (but later than Nemea V.), 
and was composed undoubtedly before the battle of Salamis, and sung 
at iEgina at a banquet in the house of Lampo, the victor's father. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 16 : Proemium. The poet expresses his hope that he may hereafter 
be able to compose a third ode, this being the second (and Nemean V. 
the first), in honour of the sons of Lampo, for a future Olympian 
victory ; and Lampo's prayers for the attainment of this wish, he 
begs the Fates to hear and grant. 19 — 5Q : Mythical portion of the 
ode. The glory of the ^Eacidse, Peleus, Telamon, and Ajax : the 
tale of Heracles' prayer to Zeus, that Telamon might have a valiant 
and invulnerable son. 57 — end : The poet returns to the subject of 
the ode, the praises of the victor, of Pytheas his brother, of Euthy- 
menes his uncle, and of Lampo his father, who had so successfully 
trained his two sons for their contests in the games. 

As when at the rich banquet a the second cup is mixed, so we 
mingle the second cup of the strains of poesy for the race of 

J v. 56 : i. e. let him contend, but it will be in vain, to surpass that 
family in the number of victories that it has obtained. 

k v. 58 : or, disappointed. 

1 v. 57 : Dissen andBoeckh read ovS' biroaai vcncavai LXiriduv, Zkvhj" 
vttiv, putting the comma after kXTriduv instead of after Ca-Kavai. Dissen 
translates, "Nee quotquot fuerunt sumptus votorum, hoc attrivit eorum 
studium ; s. eo studium eorum imminutum est." 

m v. 59 : i. e. powerful. n v. 60 : i. e. that he preceded. 

° v. 61 : i.e. that he taught his brother Phylacidas how to conquer by 
himself preceding him in the contest and setting him the example. 

a v. 1 : Qu. as when at a banquet, when the revelry is at its height. 



ISTHMIAN V. 157 

Lampon that hatli been successful in the contest, having first 
received from thee, Zeus, in Nemea, the prime of crowns ; 
now again from the Lord of the Isthmus and from the fifty 
Nereids, Phylacidas the youngest of his sons being victori- 
ous. And may it be allowed us, offering a third cup to the 
Olympian Saviour, to honour ^Egina with honied songs as 
with a drink-offering. 

For if any one rejoicing in expense and in labour per- 
forms noble deeds that the gods build up, b and at the same 
time Providence brings about for him lovely glory, that man, 
I say, already casts anchor at the extremest bounds of hap- 
piness, honoured as lie is of the gods. 

The son of Cleonicus prays, that having obtained such 
desires, he may receive death and hoary old age ; and I 
invoke the lofty-throned Clotho and her sister Fates to follow 
the noble demands d of a man that is my friend. 

And you, O iEacidse of the golden cars, you I say it is my 
clearest law to besprinkle with praises, as often as I approach 
this islands But innumerable paths, a hundred feet in width, 
of noble deeds, have been cut uninterruptedly even beyond the 
fountains of the Nile, and through the Hyperboreans ; f nor 
is there any state so barbarous or so strange in tongue, that 
hears not of the glory of the hero Peleus, the blessed son- 
in-law of the gods ; nor is there one which hears not of the 
glory of Ajax, the son of Telamon, and of his father; whom, 
along with the Tirynthians, as a zealous ally, the son of 
Alcmena led on board his ships to war that-delighteth-in- 
the-brazen-arms against Troy, the heroes' toil, on account of 
the offences of Laomedon. And he? took Pergamia, 11 and 
along with him he slew the nation of the Meropes, and the 
herdsman Alcyoneus, huge as a mountain, after that he had 
found him at Phlegrse, nor did Heracles spare with his hands 
his own deep-twanging bowstring. 

But ere all this befel as he summoned the son of ^Eacus to 

b v. 11 : i. e. actions that are divine. c v. 15 : or, accomplished. 

d v. 17 : •. e. to obey, or, grant the noble prayers. 

e v. 21 : i. e. you it is my bounden duty to bedew with praise, as 
often as I touch upon the subject of this island. 

1 v. 23 : i. e. the glories of the iEacidse stretch far and wide, and are 
known to the ends of the earth. s v. 31 : i. e. Heracles. 

h v. 31 : i. e. Pergamus or Ilion. 



158 ISTHMIAN V. 

the expedition, lie chanced to find them all feasting. The 
warlike son, then, of Amphitryon as he stood there in lion's 
skin, did noblest Telamon call upon by name to make com- 
mencement with nectarean libations, 1 and he held up and 
gave to lnm the goblet that held the wine, rough with gold. 
He then having stretched up to heaven his unconquered 
hands, uttered such words as these : — 

" If ever, Father Zeus, thou hast heard my prayer with 
propitious mind, now, / pray thee, now, with most earnest 
prayers do I implore of thee a bold son by Eribcea for this 
hero, so as to perfect the happiness of my friend watched 
over by the Fates ; and him (the son) strong in body, even 
as this hide now envelopes me about, belonging to the beast 
which first of all my toils I slew of yore in Nemea. And 
let courage correspond with his stout frame? 

Immediately as he said these words, the deity sent forth 
to him the sovereign of birds, the mighty eagle ; and sweet 
delight thrilled him within. And he said, speaking like a 
prophet : " There shall be to thee the son that thou askest, 
O Telamon." And him, named after the bird that had 
appeared, he called the very mighty A j ax, marvellous in after 
times in the warlike toils of men. Thus then having spoken 
he forthwith sat down. But for me it were tedious to re- 
count all his valiant deeds. 

For I have come, O Muse, the dispenser of triumphal 
hymns for Phylacidas, and for Pytheas, and for Euthymenes. 
After the Argive fashion shall it be said somehow in briefest 
terms. For three victories in the Pancratium from the Isth- 
mus, and others from leafy IsTemea, did the illustrious sons 
and uncle bear off : and what a copious measure of hymns 
have they brought to light ; and the tribe of Psalychidse do 
they besprinkle with the fairest dew of the Charites, and 
having exalted the house of Themistius they inhabit this 
highly-favoured cityJ And Lampo giving zealous heed to 
the labours of training for tlie games greatly approves this 
saying of Hesiod, and pointing it out to his sons, exhorts 
them to observe it, bringing as he does a common glory to 
/ 

1 v. 37 : i. e. to begin the nectarean libations, or to begin the matter, 
i. e. to invoke a favourable commencement to the expedition, with a 
libation. 

J v. 66: i. e. they reflect glory alike on their tribe and their family. 



ISTHMIAN VI. 159 

his city; and he is loved for his kindness towards his guests, 
endeavouring to pursue k moderation in thought, and attaining 
to 1 moderation in deed also. And his tongue is not at vari- 
ance with his thoughts : thou wouldest say that he is to 
Atliletes what the Naxian brass-sharpening whetstone is 
amongst other stones. I will give them the pure water of 
Dirce to drink,™ which the deep-girded daughters of Mne- 
mosyne with robe of gold have caused to gush forth near the 
well-walled gates of Cadmus. 



ISTHMIAN VI. 

Inscribed to Strepsiades, a Theban, victor in the pancratium, perhaps 
in 01. 81, 1. B.C. 456, six months after the battle of GEnophyta, when 
the Thebans were defeated, and lost their supremacy over Bceotia : 
sung at Thebes. 

AEGUMENT. 

1 — 19 : Proemium. The ancient and mythical glories of Thebes. 
20 — 39 : Praise of the recent victory of Strepsiades, and of the 
glorious death of his uncle of the same name. 39 — end : The poet 
exhorts his fellow-citizens to moderation in time of prosperity, and 
warns them against striving after what is beyond their reach, and out 
of their power to effect. 

With which of thy former native glories, O blessed Theba, 
hast thou most specially delighted thy soul? "Was it when 
thou broughtest to light the assessor of timbrilled Demeter, 
Dionysus of the floating locks'? or was it when, receiving at 
the mid hour of night the mightiest of the gods snowing 
with gold, what time, standing within the doors of Amphi- 
tryon, he approached his wife with Heraclean seed 1 or was 
it when thou didst rejoice at the sage counsels of Tiresias 1 
or when in Iolaus skilled in the steed 1 or in the seed of the 
dragon's teeth who are unwearied at the spear 1 or was it 
when, from the fierce battle, thou didst send back Adrastus 
bereft of innumerable companions to equestrian Argos ? or 

k v. 70 : or, studying to acquire. l v. 71 : or, observing. 

m v. 74 : or, I will refresh them with a draught of pure water of 
Dirce. 



1G0 ISTHMIAN VI. 

when tliou placedst on firm base a the Dorian colony of the 
Lacedaemonians, and the iEgidae thy descendants took 
Amyclse, through the Pythian oracles 1 

" But yet the remembrance of ancient glory is wont to sleep 
in oblivion, and mortals are forgetful of that which does not 
reach to the highest prime of poetry, yoked to the far-famed 
streams of verse. 

Sing then in honour of Strepsiades too with a sweet- 
sounding hymn. For he bears away at the Isthmus the 
victory of the pancratium ; and in strength he is wondrous, 
iind goodly in shape to behold, and he displays a valour that 
does not shame his stature. b And he has a blaze of glory 
from the violet-tressed Muses, and to his maternal uncle of 
the same name he has given a wreath to share — his uncle 
to whom Ares of the brazen shield brought death, but 
honour is laid up as a reward for the valiant. For let him 
surely know, whoever in this cloud of war repels in behalf 
of his beloved country the hailstorm of blood, turning the 
plague against the host of his foes, let him know, I say, that 
for the race of his 'citizens he increases their glory to the 
greatest height, both while he lives, and when he is dead. 

And tbou, son of Diodotus, emulating the warlike 
Meleager, and emulating Hector too, and Amphiaraus, hast 
breathed forth thy blooming age in the crowd of the foremost 
combatants, where the bravest sustained the strife of war in 
the extremity of hope. And I endured an inexpressible 
grief ; but now the Earth-encompasser has granted me calm 
after a storm. 

I will sing, having bound my locks with wreaths. And 
let not the envy of the immortals disquiet the daily pleasure, 
in pursuit of which I tranquilly approach old age, and the 
destined period of life. 

For we die alike all of us ; but our fortune is unequal. 
But if a man gazes around after what is distant, he is too 
weak to attain to the seat of the gods with floor of brass ; 
since the winged Pegasus threw his master Bellerophon, who 
-desired to go to the mansions of heaven to the assembly of 
Zeus ; for the bitterest end awaits the pleasure that is 
contrary to right. 

a v. 13: lit. on an upright ancle. 
b v. 23 : or, not inferior to his form. 



ISTHMIAN VTI. 161 

But to us, thou that bloomest with the golden hair, 
Loxias, grant at Pytho too a blooming crown at thy 
contests. 



ISTHMIAN VII 

Inscribed to Cleander of iEgina, son of Telesarchus, victorious in the 
pancratium at the Isthmian and Nemean games : written a few months 
after the battle of Plataea, 01. 75, 2,— B.C. 479 : sung at ^Egina. 
Boeckh thinks that the ode must have been written shortly after the 
taking of Thebes by the allied Greeks, and therefore that it comme- 
morates a Nemean, and not an Isthmian victory. 

ARGUMENT. 

1 — 15 : Proemium. The poet, though anxious and fearful of some new 
disaster after the close, it would seem, of the Persian war, when the 
Thebans feared the vengeance of the allied Greeks for their late 
Medizing, yet rouses himself to sing the victories of Cleander. 1 5 — 60 : 
The mythical portion of the ode, commencing with the mythical con- 
nection of Thebes and ^Egina. Pindar passes on to the fame of iEacus 
as an arbitrator in disputes and quarrels ; to the ^Eacidse, distin- 
guished for valour and for justice ; to the tale of the wedding of Peleus 
and Thetis, whose hand was sought by Zeus and Poseidon ; and to 
the valiant deeds of Achilles at Troy. 61 — end : The poet returns to 
the immediate subject of his ode, the victories in the games of Nicocles, 
the late uncle of the conqueror, and the present victory of Cleander. 

For Cleander and his youthful prime let some one, O ye 
youths, going to the splendid vestibule of his father Te- 
lesarchus, raise the festal song, the glorious recompense of 
his toils, the reward both of his Isthmian victory, and 
because that, in Nemea, he gained the victory in the contest. 

For whom I too, though grieved in soul, am bidden to 
invoke the golden Muse. 

But since we have been freed from mighty woes, let us 
neither fall into a lack of crowns, nor do thou, my spirit, 
cherish thy woes ; but having ceased from unprofitable 
griefs, let us sportively utter abroad some sweet strain even 
after our calamity : since some deity hath turned aside from 
us the stone of Tantalus that was hung over our head, 
insufferable toil to Greece. But the passing away of my 
fear has put an end to my grievous anxiety, and it is better 
always to look to what is present. For deceitful time hangs 

M 



162 ISTHMIAN VII. 

over men, rolling life's stream along ; but even these evils a 
are capable of a remedy to mortals, if only they have liberty; 
and a man should cherish good hope. 

And it is the duty of one that hath been reared in seven- 
gated Thebes to allot to JEgma, before all else the choicest 
gift, of the Charites, because that from their sire were born 
twin daughters, the youngest of the daughters of Asopus, 
and they pleased Zeus lord of all. Who near Dirce of the fair 
stream gave one to dwell as mistress of the city that loves 
the car ; b and having brought thee, JEgina, to the island 
(Enopia, he lay with thee; where to his loud-thundering 
sire thou didst bring forth divine ^Eacus the most wise of 
all the dwellers upon earth, who used to bring to an end the 
strifes even of the gods : his godlike sons and his warlike 
sons' sons excelled by their courage in conducting the din of 
brazen mournful war, and they were temperate-minded and 
sage of soul. This did the assemblies of the blessed ones 
remember, when Zeus and bright Poseidon strove for the 
nuptial tie of Thetis, either of them desiring that she should 
be his fair bride ; for love possessed them. 

But the immortal understandings of the other gods accom- 
plished not for them that wedlock, when they heard the 
voice of the oracles. For Themis, author of wise counsel, 
said amongst them all, that it was fated that the ocean 
goddess should bring forth for him c a lordly son more mighty 
than his sire, who should wield in his hand another weapon 
more powerful than the thunderbolt and the irresistible trident, 
if she were united to Zeus or to the brothers of Zeus. — " But 
do you then cease this strife, and let her, having obtained 
a mortal spouse, behold her son slain in war, like to Ares in 
might, and in strength of feet like lightning. It is my 
advice to give her as the honour of wedlock granted-by-the- 
gods to Peleus, son of iEacus, who is by report the most 
pious of men that the plain of Iolcos contains. And let the 
tidings go straightway to the immortal cave of Chiron, nor 
let the daughter of Nereus twice put into our hands the 
leaves of contention ; d but in the evening hours when the 

a v. 16 : i.e. the evils that arise from the changes and chances of 
fortune are capable of being remedied, at least by the free. 

b v. 20 : i. c. Thebes. c v. 33 : i. e. for Zeus, or Poseidon, 

d v. 43 : or. contentious votes. 



ISTHMIAN VII. 163 

moon is at the mil let her loosen the lovely zone of her 
virginity to the hero." 

Thus spoke the goddess addressing the sons of Cronus, 
and they with their immortal eyebrows nodded assent, and 
the fruit of her words did not fall away and perish. For 
they say that along with them king Peleus had regard for 
the espousal of Thetis. And soon did the mouths of the 
wise point out to the ignorant the youthful valour of 
Achilles ; who both stained with blood the vine-clad Mysian 
plain, sprinkling it with the black blood of Telephus, and 
bridged a return home for the Atridse, and redeemed Helen, 
having cut with his spear the nerves of Troy (which in times 
past checked him as he marshalled on the plain the work of 
homicidal battle), both the haughty might of Memnon and 
Hector and other princes, to whom Achilles, warder of the 
^Eacidse, disclosing the dwelling of Persephone, e showed, 
forth ^Egina and his own descent. To him, not even when 
dead, have songs been lacking, but near his funeral pyre and 
tomb did the Heliconian maidens stand, and over him pour 
forth the dirge with many a strain. This then was thought 
1 befitting by the immortals, to consign a valiant hero, even 
when passed away, to the hymns of the goddesses. 

And this course now too is proper ; f and the car of the 
Muses hastens on loudly to sing the memorial of the boxer 
Nicocles. Honour him, therefore, who in the Isthmian game 
has won the Doric parsley, since surely in times past he too 
overcame the heroes who dwelt around him, driving them 
before him with a hand that none could escape. Him the 
offspring of his renowned uncle? does not disgrace : let one 
of his compeers weave a beauteous crown of myrtle for 
Oleander in honour of his victory in the pancratium ; since 
him did the lists of Alcathous, and the youth assembled in 
Epidaurus, formerly receive when he came in success and 
triumph. Him to praise is easy for the good ; for he did 
not in concealment waste h a youth unacquainted with noble 
deeds. 

e v. 56 : i. e. slaying them in battle. 

f v. 61 : or, is agreeable to reason. 

& v. 67 : i. e. Oleander, the son of the uncle of Nicocles. 

h v. 70 : lit. "for he buried not his youth in a hole."— S. <fc L. Diet. 

m2 



1C4 






ERRATA. 

Prefe.ce, page ix., for "This is imitated/' read " The beginning of 
Pyth. I. is imitated," &c. 

Page 19 (Olympian V.), line 6, for "with the sacrifice of oxen," I 
would rather now render, after Jelf, " on occasion of the sacrifices of 
oxen." See Appendix A., where see reference. 

Page 53 (Pythian I.), line 13, for " thy weapons wound," read "thy 
weapons enchant," or " charm," &c. 

Page 54, line 17, for "formidable," read "favourable." 

Page 66, line 17 (Pythian IV.), for "storm-footed steeds," read 
"storm-footed chariots." 

Page 66, line 23, for "made the thunder roar, as upon," &c, read 
" made the thunder roar, when he met with them, as upon," &c. 

Page 66, last line in the page, for "snatching the sod," &c, read 
"snatching with his right hand the sod," &c. 

Page 84 (Pythian VIII.), line 14, for " either Theognetus at Olympia, 
nor in the victory," &c, read "either Theognetus at Olympia, nor the 
victory," &c. 



165 



POSTSCRIPT. 

The Index winch I have compiled to the passages of 
Pindar referred to in Jelf 's Greek Grammar will prove of 
great use to the reader. It is a matter to me of much 
regret that the whole of the foregoing translation had, already, 
not only been written, but also printed, before the second 
edition of Jelf appeared. Other errata, besides those noticed, 
have no doubt escaped my eye, for which I beg the reader 
to accept the excuse of my having had to work in the midst 
of many other occupations and numerous interruptions. A 
reference is earnestly recommended on every occasion to the 
above invaluable work. 



APPENDIX A. 



Passages in Pindar referred to, and explained in, Jelf's Greek 
Grammar (2nd edition). 

Pindar. Jelf, Vol. II. 

Olymp. I. princ § 781, d. 

I. 64 583, 114. 

I. 88 895, 5. 

II. 53 444, b. 

II. 70 637, III. A. 

II. 87 388, 1. 

III. 3 435, obs. 

III. 40 418, d. 

V. 5 639, II. 2. 

VII. 15 365, b. 

VII. 50 570. 

VIII. 15 390, (S. 

VIII. 42 440. 

VIII. 45 364, a. 

VIII. 64 363,3. 

X. 19 419, b, and 426, obs. 

„ XI. princ 386, 1. 

XL 5 440. 

XIII. 37 631, II. 1. 

Pyth. I. 8 624. 

I. 10 365, 2. 

I. 12 631, II. 2. 

II. 49 792, b. 

x3 



166 



Pindar. Jelf, Vol. II. 

Pyth. III. 13 § 355, (5. 

III. 97 583,161, 

III. 107 - . . 792, d. 

IV. 40 589, obs. 1. 

IV. 225 555. 

IV. 243 . . 365, b. 

IV. 255 440. 

IV. 296, &c 536, obs. 4. 

VI. 48 _ 775, obs. 3. 

VIII. 91 355, j3. 

X. 45 752, 4. 

X. 62 637, 1, A. 

X. 71 - 386, 1. 

Nem. I. 92 .. 435, b. 

III. 39 583, 144. 

TIL 46 563, 1. 

IV. 26 566,3. 

VI. 5 777, 5. 

VI. 106 583, 132. 

VII. 68 424, 8. 

IX. 34 566, 1. 

X. 25 895, 5. 

XI. 17 622, 3. 

Pind. passim 569, 1. 

The force of ovv 737, 1. 



APPENDIX B. 

Passages in Pindar, quoted and explained in Donaldson's New 
Cratylus (1st edition). 

Pindar. New Cratylus. 

Olymp. II. 23 .. Page 241. 

VII. 44 406. 

VIII. 20 373. 

Pyth. I. 50 370. 

IV. 187 226. 

IV. 263 247. 

VI. 13 363. 

VIII. 21 foil 373. 

X. 81 362. 

XI. 32 390. 

Nem. IV. 35 564. 

„ VII. 89 « 247. 



THE 

ODES OF PINDAR, 

TEANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE, 

WITH 

NOTES CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY. 
By ABRAHAM MOORE, Esq. 



OLYMPIC ODES. 

ODE I. 

10 HIERO THE SYRACUSIAN, 

* Victor in the Horse-race. 

STROPHE I. 

Water* the first of elements we hold ; 
And, as the flaming fire at night 
Glows with its own conspicuous light, 

Above proud treasure shines transcendant gold : 
But if, my soul, 'tis thy desire 
For the Great Games to strike thy lyre, 
Look not within the range of day 
A start more genial to descry 
Than yon warm sun, whose glittering ray 
Dims all the spheres that gild the sky ; 

* It was held by Thales the Milesian, one of the seven wise men of 
Greece, that water was the parent of the other elements ; and it is sin- 
gular that Pindar should have opened his first Olympic ode with the 
tenet of a sage, who is said to have died at the age of ninety, while 
sitting as a spectator of the Olympic games. The same doctrine is sup- 
posed by some to have been intimated by Homer in the 14th Iliad, 1. 246. 

Ocean, the first progenitor of all. 
The vivifying powers of the overflowing Nile, which both the philosopher 
and the poet are said to have visited, may possibly have given birth to this 
notion ; and Ovid, who ascribes the generation of all things to the union 
of heat and moisture, has illustrated the process of creation by the phe- 
nomena of the retiring inundations of that river. 

f Ovid has imitated this expression in his account of the reproduction 
of the world after Deucalion's flood, where he says of the sun, 

j^Ethereoque ardens exarsit sidere limus. — Met. lib. i. 424. 
and Milton in the following passages, viz. 

ere this diurnal star 

Leaves cold the night. — Par. Lost, b. x. 1070. 

So sinks the day-star in his ocean bed. — Lycidas, 168. 



168 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE I. 

Nor loftier theme to raise thy strain 
Than famed Olympia's crowded plain : 
From whence, by gifted minstrels richly wove, 
Th' illustrious hymn, at glory's call, 
Goes forth to Hiero's affluent hall, 
To hail his prosperous throne and sing Saturnian Jove.* 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Hiero the just, that rules the fertile field, 
Where fair Sicilia's pastures feed . 
Unnumber'd flocks, and for his meed 
Culls the sweet flowers that all the virtues yield. 
Nor less renown'd his hand essays 
To wake the Muse's choicest lays, 
Such as the social feast t around 

Full oft our tuneful band inspire — 
But wherefore sleeps the thrilling sound ? 
Pluck from the peg J thy Dorian § lyre, 

* The Olympic Games were sacred to Jupiter, to whom a temple and 
many altars and statues were erected at Olympia. — Pausanias, lib. v. s. 6. 

+ It seems from the old Scholiast, that it was a custom with the 
Greeks at their entertainments to carry a harp round the table and pre- 
sent it to the guests ; and West tells us, that any one who refused to 
play upon it was considered as illiterate or ill-bred. 

X Pindar figuratively takes his lyre from the peg ; on which, as Homer 
tells us, the real lyre was formerly suspended. 

Down from the peg he hung the tuneful lyre. — Odyss. lib. viii. 67. 

§ There were three sorts of musical strains among the Greeks, viz., 
the Dorian, the Lydian, and the Phrygian ; of which the first was 
animating and grand, the second soft and melting, and the third melan- 
choly or terrific. Milton has described the first as the martial music of 
the Satanic army, viz. 

Anon they move 

In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 

Of flutes and soft recorders ; such as raised 

To heighth of noblest temper heroes old 

Arming to battle. — Par. L. b. i. 533. 

Pindar professes to use the Lydian in his 14th Olympic ode on the victory 
of the youth Asopichus, addressed to the Graces ; and Dryden's " softly 
sweet in Lydian measures" will not be forgotten. The Phrygian strain 
was employed, as Lucretius informs us, in the horrific solemnities of the 
Mother of the Gods ; and Statius introduces it at the funeraJ of Arche- 
inorus. — Z/ucr. lib. ii. ; St. Theb. vi. 122. These three kinds of music 
were formerly performed on different pipes ; but Pausanias tells us, that 



ODE I.J OLYMPIC ODES. 1G9 

If Pisa's* palms have charms for thee, 
If Pherenicus't victory- 
Hath roused thee to the rapturous cares of song ; 
Tell us how swift the ungoaded steed 
By Alpheus^ urged his furious speed, 
And bore the distant prize from all the panting throng. 

EPODE i. 
Proud of his stud, the Syracusian king 

Partook the courser's triumph. Through the plaiu 
By Lydian Pelops § won his praises ring — 

Pelops of Neptune loved (whose watery reign 
Bounds the wide earth, that trembles at his might), 

Pelops, whose form the plastic Fate|| replaced, 
And from the Cbldron bright 

Drew forth with ivory shoulder graced. 
Life teems with wonders : yet, in Reason's spite, 
O'er the fond fascinating fiction, warm 
From Fancy's pencil, hangs a charm 
That more than Nature's self her painted dreams delight. 

there was, in his time, at Thebes, the statue of one Pronomus, who had 
contrived a method of performing them all upon the same instrument. — 
Paus. ix. c. 12. 

* Pisa, the same, at least in the language of this poet, with Olympia, 
a city of Elis, where the Olympic Games were celebrated. — See Dodw. 
Tram. vol. ii. p. 326-7. 

+ Phetvnicus, the name of Hiero's horse, signifying in Greek the 
bearer of the victory, and therefore probably given to him on the 
occasion. 

X Alpheus or Alpheius, a river which rises in Arcadia, and flows by 
Pisa through the Elean territory into the Ionian Sea. — See Dodw. Trav. 
vol. ii. 324. 

§ Lydian Pelops. It is said that Pelops, with his father Tantalus, 
king of Sipylus in Lydia, being worsted in battle by Iius, king of Troy, 
planted a colony in Greece ; as proofs of which, Pausanias mentions a 
harbour there, in his time, named after Tantalus, and a distinguishable 
tomb. (Paiis. lib. v. c. 13.) He mentions, also, a brazen chest in the 
temple of Diana Cordace at Olympia, in which the bones of Pelops were 
preserved. The " plain by Pelops won" is the Elean territory, of whicn, 
as appears by this ode, he became king, after the death of OSnomaiis. 

|| This alludes to the well-known fable of Tantalus, who, at an enter- 
tainment which he gave the gods, served up his son Pelops, whose 
shoulder Ceres, coming in late from the pursuit of Proserpine, inadver- 
tently devoured, and for which Clotho, one of the Fates, by whom the 
youth was reconstructed, supplied a substitute of ivory. — Ovid. Mtt. 
lib. vi. 401. 



170 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE I. 



STROPHE II. 

For Taste,* whose softening hand hath power to give 
Sweetness and grace to rudest things, 
And trifles to distinction brings, 
Makes us full oft the enchanting tale receive 
In Truth's disguise as Truth. The day 
Yet comes, Time's test, that tears away 
The veil each flattering falsehood wears. 

Beseems us then (for less the blame) 
Of those that heed us from the spheres 
Becoming marvels to proclaim. 
Great son of Tantalus, thy fate 
Not as the fablers I relate. 
Thee with the Gods thy Sire's Sipyliant guest, 
When they in turn beneath his bower 
Purest repast partook, the Power 
That wields the Trident seized, and ravish'd from the feast. 

A2JTISTROPHE H. 

Desire his breast had conquer'd. Up he drove 

His trembling prize of mortal mould 

In radiant car with steeds of gold 
To th' highest mansion of all-honour'd Jove ; 

With whom the Boy, J from wondering Ide 

Rapt long before, like place supplied. 

Her Pelops lost, her vanish'd son 

Soon roused the frantic mother's care ; 

No tidings came ; the search begun 
In mystery ended in despair. 

* Taste. I have thus translated Xctpig, for which, as it is here used, 
there is no corresponding word in English. It imports the gracefulness 
and good taste with which a poet manages his fiction. 

•f* Sipylian. "Whether there was a city called Sipylus in Lydia, where 
Tantalus resided, does not seem settled. The mountain of that name is 
well known, celebrated for the sufferings and metamorphosis of Niobe. 
Pausanias saw a rock there resembling, at a distance, the figure of a 
weeping woman, and a seat called the throne of Tantalus. — Paus. lib. i. 
49 ; lib. v. 408. 

t The boy, <L-c. Ganymede, who was taken up into heaven by the 
eagle, and made cup-bearer to Jupiter before the time of Pelops, though, 
by the phrase ctvTspy XP° V V> Pindar seems to give it a later date. 






ODE I.] OLYMPIC ODES. 171 

Forthwith some envious foe was found 
Whispering th' unseemly slander round, 
" How all into the bubbling caldron cast 

" Thy. mangled limbs were seethed, and shred 
" In fragments on the table spread, 
" While circling Gods looked on and shared th' abhorr'd 
repast." 

EPODE II. 

Far be from me and mine the thought profane, 

That in foul feast ccelestials could delight ! 
Blasphemous tale ! Detraction finds its bane 
E'eri in the wrong it works — If mortal wight 
Heaven e'er hath honour'd, 'twas this Tantalus ; 

But soon from ill-digested greatness sprung 
Presumption and abuse : 

Thence from his towering fortunes flung 
(Frightful reverse !) he fell. A ponderous rock 
High o'er his head hung threatening (angry Jove 
So judged him for his crimes above) : 
Where day and night he waits, (^reading th' expected shock.* 

STROPHE III. 

Thus doom'd is he life's hopeless load to bear, 

Torment unceasing ! Three t beside, 

Delinquents there, like pains abide. 
He from th' Immortals their ambrosial fare, 

The nectarous flood that crown'd their bowl, 

To feast his earth-born comrades, stole : 



* According to Homer (Odyss. lib. xi. 581), Ovid (Ars Amand. lib. ii. 
604), Horace, and other writers, Tantalus was punished with eternal 
thirst and hunger, standing in a lake, whose water, as he stooped to 
drink, fled from his lips, and under branches hung with fruit that retired 
from his grasp. Lucretius, however (lib. iii.), agrees with Pindar : 

There wretched Tantalus, in fruitless dread, 
Eyes the huge rock that hangs above his head ; 
as does Euripides in his Orestes, 1. 6, quoted by Heyne. 

+ The original is fxtTa rpiuiv rtraprov irovov, which is conceived by 
the old Scholiast to mean, that, in addition to the dread of an over- 
hanging rock, Tantalus also suffered the pains of thirsting, fasting, and 
standing (as represented in Polygnotus's picture). 



172 OLYMPIC ODES. |0 DE *• 

Food, that, by their coelestial grace, 
Eternal youth to him. had given. 
Yain hope, that guilt by time or place 

Can 'scape the searching glance of heaven ! . 
For this the blameless Son once more 
Back to man's short-lived race they bore ; 
There, when fresh youth its blooming flower had blown, 
And round his chin th' umbrageous beard 
Mature its manlier growth had rear'd, 
From Pisa's Prince he sought, his nuptial couch to crown. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

The famed Hippodame ; * whose charms to gain, 

The fond and furious father's pride, 

At night's dark hour alone he hied 
To the rough shore of the loud-bellowing main, 

And call'd the Trident-sceptred God, 

Whose form forthwith beside him stood : 

" Oh ! if th' endearing gifts," said he, 
" The Cyprian sea-born Queen bestows, 

" Have still, great Neptune, grace with thee, 

" Propitiate now thy suppliant's vows. 
" Arrest CEnoinaus' brazen spear, 
" To Elist guide my prompt career, 
" And bear me on thy swiftest chariot's wheel 
" Victorious to the goal ; for he, 
" Slayer of suitors ten and three, 
" Still from his daughter's hope withholds the bridal seal. 

* Hippodamb or Hippodamia was the daughter of (Enomaiis, king of 
Pisatis, the territory in which Pisa lay. He is said to have offered his 
daughter, of whom he was extremely fond, in marriage to any one who 
should beat him in the chariot-race ; and to have slain with his own 
spear thirteen suitors, who had accepted the challenge, and whose names 
the Scholiast has preserved. 

*f* Elis. This was the capital of the territory of the same name, in 
which Pisa or Olympia lay. It had been demolished before the time of 
Strabo. The site of it is now called Palaeopolis, which Mr. Dodwell 
visited, but found nothing but a few blocks of marble and the frustum of 
a Doric column. 



ODE I.] OLYMPIC ODES. 173 



EPODE III. 

" Majestic Danger calls but for the brave, 

" Trusts not the dastard's arm : then why should man, 
" By life's hard lot predestined to the grave, 
" Waste in the dark th' unprofitable span, 
" And crouch in Age's corner unrenown'd, 
" Heav'n's noblest gifts untasted 1 Power divine ! 
" Grant thou th' event be crown'd, 
" This peril shall at least be mine." 
Thus he, with zeal not unregarded, speeds 

His ardent prayer. The God his prayer embraced, 
Gave him his car with gold enchaced, 
And roused th' unwearied plumes that wing'd* the immortal 
steeds. 

STROPHE IV. 

CEnomaiis' power th' exulting youth o'erthrows : 

The virgin spouse his arms entwine ; 

From whose soft intercourse, a line 
By all the virtues nursed, six warriors t rose. 

Now in rich pomp and solemn state 

His dust heroic J honours wait. 

Where Alpheus laves the hallow'd glade, 
His tomb its ample range displays, 

And gifts by many a stranger laid 
High on his crowded altar blaze ; 

* There was a sacred chest in the Temple of Juno, at Olympia, in 
which Cypselus, king of Corinth, had, when an infant, been concealed 
by his mother, to protect him from the Bacchida?, who sought his death, 
on the front of which were sculptured in ivory and gold, Pelops flying 
with Hippodame and (Enomaiis pressing after him, each in a chariot 
with two horses, but those of Pelops represented loith wings. — Pausan. 
lib. v. c. 17. 

+ Two of these six warriors were Atreus, father of Agamemnon, and 
Thyestes. The learned are not agreed on the names of the remaining 
four. 

X An area, called the Pelopion, within the Altis, or sacred inclosure, 
at Olympia, was set apart and dedicated by Hercules to Pelops, who 
was honoured there as much before all the heroes as Jupiter above all 
gods. It was near the temple of Jupiter Olympius, surrounded with a 
pile of stones, and the space within occupied by trees and statues, and 
other offerings. — Pamcm. lib. v. c. 13. 



174: OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE I. 

But most from proud Olympia's drome,* 
On distant realms, on times to come, 
Shines Pelops' fame. There Speed demands his crown, 
Toil-mastering Strength the muscle strains, 
And conquerors pass life's proud remains 
On Virtue's tranquil couch, the slumber of renown. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Such is the Champion's meed : the constant good, 
That lives beyond the transient hour, 
Of all that Heaven on man can shower, 
Most fires his hope, most wakes his gratitude : 
But now 'tis mine, the strain to raise, 
And swell th' Equestrian Hero's praise, 
To crown with loud iEolian songt 

A Prince, whose peer the spacious earth 
Holds not its noblest chiefs among, 

Boasts not in wisdom, power and worth, 
A host more gifted, to display, 
Through all the mazes of the lay. 
Hiero, some guardian god thy fame sustains, 
And makes thee his peculiar care ; 
If long thy deeds his smiles shall share, 
A loftier flight I'll soar, and warble sweeter strains. 

EPODE IV. 

Then high on Cronium's J peak my post shall be ; 

There, as a poet's glance informs my soul, 
First in the burning race thy steeds to see, 

Thy bounding chariot whirl thee to the goal. 

* Drome, the stadium or place where the foot-race and other games 
were exhibited. It is but the Greek word anglicised, like hippodrome, 
the horse-course. 

t JBolicm song. Our author has before spoken of his Dorian lyre ; 
and Strabo (lib. viii. p. 513) tells us that the Doric and iEolian were 
originally the same dialect, as Milton, in allusion to these odes, has 
coupled them together in Satan's magnificent survey of ancient Greece. 
There shalt thou hear and learn the seeret power 
Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit 
1 By voice or hand, and various-measured verse, 

-<Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes. — Par. Reg. b. iv. 257. 
t Cronium, a hill near Olympia, so named from Cronos, the Greek 



ODE I.J OLYMPIC ODES. 175 

Then shall the Muse her strongest javelin fling ; 

'Bove all the ranks of greatness at the top 
Shines the consummate king — 

Beyond that height lift not thy hope. 
Be thine in that bright station long to bear 

Thy upright course ; mine, with the conquering band; 
To take my honourable stand, 
And 'mong the bards of Greece the palm of genius weai.* 

name for Saturn, to whom certain priests or persons called Basil ae sacri- 
ficed on its summit at the vernal equinox. Mr. Dodwell, who visitea 
the remains of Olympia, observed a pointed hill near it, which he sup- 
poses to have been Cronium, much higher, but not more extensive 
at the base, than the Roman Capitol ; and Pindar's in^XoTo irsTpav 
dXitarov Kpoviov (Olympic Ode vi. 109), after a fair allowance for 
poetical exaggeration, is not at variance with that supposition. The 
unintelligible masses of ruined wall, which Mi . Dodwell noticed near its 
base, might have been, if not the ruins, yet on the site of the treasuries, 
or of the Temple of Lucina, mentioned by Pausanias, lib. vi. s. 20. 

* Genius. The word in the original is <ro<piq, which, as well as trocpbg, 
Pindar generally uses to denote natural ability as contrasted with acquire- 
ment, and particularly so with reference to poetry. Anacreon uses 
^otpirjg in the same manner in the following pleasing passage : — 

Again the trembling lyre I'll wake : 
And, though no crown before me lies, 

Genius may toil, I ween, and take 

His own sweet flowrets for his prize. — Ode lxiv. 



176 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE II. 



ODE II. 

TO THERON OF AGRIGENTUM, 

Victor in the Chariot-race. 

STROPHE I. 

Hymns, that rule the living lyre, 

What god * what hero shall we sing ? 
What mortal's praise the strain inspire ? — 

Jove is Pisa's guardian king : 

Hercules t th' Olympiad plann'd, 

Trophy of his conquering hand : 
But Theron,;}; whose bright axle won, 
With four swift steeds, the chariot crown, 

Noblest of hosts, our song shall grace, 
The prop of Agrigentum's fame, 

Mower of an old illustrious race.§ 
Whose upright rule his prospering states proclaim. 

* Horace has imitated the beginning of this ode (lib. i. ode 12), 
making a climax by putting the god last ; Pindar, however, necessarily 
begins with the god, and ends with the mortal, to whose history he pro- 
ceeds. 

T Hercules. Hercules, being defrauded by Augeas, king of Elis, of 
his reward for clearing the Augean stables, made war upon him, took 
possession of his kingdom, and established the Olympic Games in honour 
of the victory. See the 10th Olympic Ode. 

% Theron was king of Acragas or Agrigentum, now called Girgenti, 
the second city of Sicily both for population and magnificence : of the 
latter some interesting records still remain in the celebrated ruins of the 
Temple of Jupiter Olympius, Juno Lucina, and o.thers, which have sur- 
vived the ravages of time and war. See Brydone's Tour, and Wilkims 
Magna Grcecia. Virgil has commemorated in two lofty lines its situation, 
grandeur, and celebrity. 

Thence Acragas, for steeds renown'd of yore, 

Rears her vast walls upon the distant shore. — JBn. lib. iii. 704. 

§ niustriom race. The ancestors of Theron were part of a colony of 
Argives, who had settled in Rhodes (a well-known island on the coast of 
Asia Minor) ; from thence they had been driven by some political dis- 
sensions into Sicily, where they took and occupied the city of Agrigentum, 
built on the banks of a river of the same name. 



ODE II.] OLYMPIC ODES. 177 



ANTISTROPHE I. 

Press'd with ills, yon sacred pile, 

Yon stream his fathers held, and shone 

The eyes* of all Sicilia's isle. 
Inborn virtue was their own : 
Public favour, wealth and power 
Reach'd them in their destin'd hour. 

But thou, that rulest th' Olympian dome, 

Saturnian t son of Rhea's womb, 

God of the noblest games divine, 
And Alpheus' stream that wanders near, 

Sooth'd with our song, to all his line 
Vouchsafe their Sire's dominion long to bear. 

EPODE I. 

Virtue's X achievement, Folly's crime, 

Whate'er of guilt or good the past has known, 
Not e'en the Sire § Ji all things, mighty Time, 

Hath power to change, or make the deed undone. 

But, when the prosperous hour returns, 
O'er woes long wept Oblivion softly lays 

Her shadowy veil ; and from the heart that mourns. 
By goodlier joys subdued, th' inveterate bane decays. 

* TJie eyes, &c. So Milton : "Athens, the eye of Greece." — Par. 
Reg. b. iv. 240. 

f Saturnian son, d-c. Pausanias says (lib. v. c. 7) that the first 
temple dedicated to Saturn was erected at Olympia ; a circumstance 
which may account for our author's frequent mention of Saturn in his 
Olympic Odes, and for the name of Kpoviov, Cronion, being given to the 
adjoining mount. 

X Virtue's achievement, &c. Whether this passage allude to the feuds 
which drove the ancestors of Theron from Rhodes, or to a war or con- 
troversy which had before subsisted between Theron and Hiero, King 
of Syracuse, the patron and friend of Pindar, is not settled by the 
Scholiasts. The reserve with which he alludes to the subject seems to 
favour the latter supposition. 

§ Not e'en the Sire, &c. Horace has imitated, not excelled this noble 

Not Jove himself upon the past has power, 

For what has been, has been, and I have had my hour. 

Dryden, b. iii. ode 29. 
But who can past recal, or done undo ? 
Not God omnipotent. Milt. Par. L. b. ix. 926. 



178 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODB II. 



STROPHE II. 

Thus rewarding Heaven and Fate 

Exalted bliss at length bestow ; 
As Cadmus' daughters,* throned in state, 

Teach the moral strain to show. 

Great their ills ; but heaviest woe 

Mightier good can soon o'erthrow : 
Eor Semele, t once to vengeance given, 
Now waves her flowing locks in Heaven : 

She, by the rattling thunder slain, 
To Pallas dear, caress'd by Jove, 

Among the Olympians lives again, 
And meets her Ivied."}: Boy's requited love. 

AUTISTROPHE II. 

Bosom'd in the briny deep, 

'Mong Nereids green, as story tells, 

While Time his circling course shall keep, 
Aye immortal Ino§ dwells. 
'Tis not given for man to know 
When pale Death shall strike the blow, 

Nor e'en if one serener Day, 

The Sun's brief child, shall pass away 

* Cadmus' daughters, <kc. Ino and Semele were the daughters of 
Cadmus and Harmonia, as Hesiod (whom Pindar, his countryman, 
generally follows) informs us. — Theog. 775. 

*f* Semele was, according to the Greeks, the mother of Bacchus by 
Jupiter, who, in return for her favours, bound himself by an oath 
to grant her any request which she should make to him ; upon which 
she unfortunately prevailed on him to come to her in all his power as 
when he visited Juno, and was killed by the thunder that accompanied 
his caresses. 

X Her Ivied Boy's, &c. This apotheosis of Semele, as the mother of 
Bacchus by Jupiter, is from Hesiod. See also Milton (Par. L. b. iv. 
179). 

§ Ino was the wife of Athamas, King of Thebes, who is said to have 
been driven to madness by Juno, and to have dashed out the brains of 
his elder son Learchus : Ino, whom he had pursued, mistaking her for a 
lioness, threw herself, with her younger son Melicertes, to avoid his fury, 
from a rock near the isthmus of Corinth, into the Seronian gulph ; 
where they were both turned into marine deities, taking the names of 
Leucothea and Palsemon. See Ov. Met. lib. iv. 1. 527. Odyss. lib. v. 
533. 



ODE II.] OLYMPIC ODES. 179 

Unclouded as it rose. The waves 
Of life with ceaseless changes flow, 

And, as the tempest sleeps or raves, 
Bring triumph or disaster, weal or woe. 

EPODE ii. r 

The Genius, thus, whose power upholds 

The prosperous destiny of Theron's race, 
And sends them wealth from heaven, a scene unfolds, 

In times long past, of vengeance and disgrace — 
Vengeance from that ill-omen'd hour 
When son and sire in foul encounter met ; 

And all, that Pythian threat denounced of yore, 
In Laius'* murder mix'd, consistent and complete. 

STROPHE III. 

Quick the sharp-eyed Fury flew, 

And, as the strife she stirr'd, apace 
Kindred their warlike kindred slew ; 

Social bloodshed thinn'd the race. 

Polynicest bit the ground ; 

Sole Thersander lived, renowned 

* Laius, King of Thebes, and father of (Edipus, being informed by 
the Delphic Oracle that he should die by the hands of his own son, 
delivered the infant OEdipus to a servant to be put to death. He was 
saved, however, by the humanity of the latter, who only exposed him 
upon Mount Cithaeron, where he was found and educated by a shepherd. 
He afterwards accidentally met his father, whom he did not know, at 
a place where three roads met, and on a sudden quarrel ignorantly slew 
him. The tombs of Laius and his domestic existed there in the days of 
Pausanias. — lib. x. c. 5. 

t Polynices and Eteocles, the sons of (Edipus, each claiming to 
succeed their father on the throne of Thebes, agreed at last to fill it for 
a year alternately. Eteocles having reigned the first year, and refusing 
at the end of it to resign his crown, Polynices fled to Argos, and pre- 
vailed upon Adrastus, whose daughter, Argeia, he married, to assist him, 
with five other chiefs, in the recovery of his kingdom. The Theban 
territory was invaded by a large army under the command of these 
seven captains ; Eteocles and Polynices met on the field of battle, 
and perished by each other's hands. Thersander, the son of Polynices 
and Argeia, one of the leaders in the second Theban war conducted by 
the sons of the seven above-mentioned, survived his father, and continued 
the Adrastian race, from whence our poet says that Theron was de- 
scended. Pausanias saw at Delphi a statue of Thersander. — lib. x. 
c. 10. 



180 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE II. 

In youthful game or martial fray, 

Of brave Adrastus' house the stay. 

Sprung from that old heroic sire, 
CEnesidamus bids us raise 

Th' applauding lay, and sweep the lyre 
Through all its thrilling chords in Theron's praise. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

'Midst Olympia's shouting bands 

With the proud prize himself was crown'd ; 
While rival wreaths from Isthmian hands 

Waved his brother's* temples round ; 

Fortune's favourite ! o'er his brow 

Blended hung the Pythian bough. 
With fourfold team in rapid race 
Twelve times he scour'd the circling space : 
Before Success the Sorrows fly. 
And Wealth more bright with Virtue join'd, 

Brings golden Opportunity, 
The sparkling star, the sun-beam of mankind ; 

EPODE in. 

Brings to the rich man's restless heart 

Ambition's splendid cares, t No less he knows 
The day fast comes when all men must depart, 

And pay for present pride in future woes. 

The deeds that frantic mortals do 
In this disorder'd nook of Jove's domain, 

All meet their meed ; and there's a Judge below 
Whose hateful doom inflicts th' inevitable pain. 

* Xenocrates was the brother of Theron, and obtained the prize in the 
chariot-race both in the Pythian and Isthmian Games, as Pindar's sixth 
Pythian and second Isthmian odes, to which the reader is referred, will 
testify. 

t It is not easy to say precisely, what Pindar meant by the words 
" BaOuav vtz'vxuv \is.pi\ivav dyporkpav," which have puzzled the com- 
mentators, and which the translators have differently interpreted; I have 
therefore endeavoured to give them what appears to me to be his mean- 
ing, consistently with the previous and succeeding passages. 






ODE II.] OLYMPIC ODES. 181 



STROPHE IV. 

O'er the Good* soft suns the while- 
Through the mild day, the night serene, 
Alike with cloudless lustre smile, 
Tempering all the tranquil scene. 
Theirs is leisure ; vex not they 
Stubborn soil or watery way, 
To wring from toil want's worthless bread i 
No ills they know, no tears they shed, 
But with the glorious Godst below 
Ages of peace contented share. 

Meanwhile the Bad with bitterest woe 
Eye-startling tasks, and endless tortures wear. 

A2JTISTROPHE IV. 

All, whose stedfast virtue thrice 

Each side the grave X unchanged hath stood 
Still unseduced, unstamd with vice* 

They by Jove's mysterious road 
Pass to Saturn's realm of rest,§ 
Happy isle that holds the blest ; 
Where sea-born breezes gently blow 
O'er blooms of gold that round them glow, 
Which Nature boon from stream or strand 
Or goodly tree profusely pours ; 

Whence pluck they many a fragrant band, 
And braid their locks with never-fading flowers. 

* I cannot refrain from recalling to the classical reader's recollection 
the well-known descriptions in Virgil (JUn. vi. 638), and Homer (Odyss. 
vi. 43). 

+ Homer mentions the infernal gods, as associated with Saturn in the 
shades belcw. — II. xv. 225. 

X The learned reader is acquainted with the use which Virgil, in his 
sixth iEneid, has made of this interesting theory ; by which the souls of 
the dead are supposed after certain periods to animate new bodies and 
return again into the world. 

§ This passage resembles Homer's account of the Elysian plain, to 
which Menelaiis was destined by the prophecy of Nereus. — Odyss. iv. 
568. 



182 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE II. 



EPODE IV. 

Such Rhadamanthus' * mandate wise : 

He on the judgment-bench, associate meet, 
By ancient Saturn t sits, prompt to advise, 
The spouse of Rhea, whose high throne is set 
Above all powers in Earth or Heaven. 
Peleus;}; and Cadmus there high honours crown ; 

The like to great Achilles § largely given 
""^ith prayers from yielding Jove persuasive Thetis || won. 

STROPHE V. 

Hector he, the pillar of Troy 

By mightiest arms unmov'd, o'erthrew, 

And bright Aurora's .ZEthiop 1 !! boy : 
He the godlike Cycnus slew — 

* Virgil places Rhadamanthus in the shades below, not however in 
lis Elysium, but, as a judge and monarch, in the kingdom of the 
Jamned. — Jin. lib. vi. 566. 

+ So Statius employs Minos and Rhadamanthus in mitigating the 
sentences of the bloody Saturn. — Theb. lib. viii. 1. 27. Hesiod, how- 
ever, has placed the latter with the Titans under Tartarus, I presume, as 
the place of punishment, to which, according to iEschylus, Jupiter had 
consigned him and his fellow combatants by the advice of Prometheus. 
--Prom. 1. 226. 

% Peleus married Thetis, and was, by her, the father of Achilles. 
The gods were said to have been present at their marriage on Mount 
Pelion, when Apollo struck the lyre and the Muses sung. See Pyth. 
ode iii. ep. 4 ; Nem. ode v. strophe 2, &c. and Catullus's beautiful poem 
on this subject. 

§ Achilles. In the beautiful hymn to Harmodius and Aristogiton, 
Achilles is placed in the islands of the blest, but by Homer, in the shades 
below, where Ulysses addresses him as one having great authority 
among the spirits of the dead. 

T$vv aire fisya Kpareug vi.RVi.aaiv. — Odyss. xi. 4S4. 

|| Homer has recorded the influence of Thetis over Jupiter, when she 
prevailed on him to pronounce the memorable oath in favour of Achilles. 
— II. lib. i. 528. It is fabled that he was violently enamoured of her, arid 
was only prevented from marrying her by the prophecy of Themis, who 
informed him that the result of that union would be the birth of a son 
more potent than himself, whereupon he bestowed her upon Peleus. — 
See Isthm. ode viii. d. 4. 

*[ JRthiop boy. Memnon, an ^Ethiopian king, said to have been the 
son of Aurora, who came to the assistance of Priam, and was killed by 



ODE II.] OLYMPIC ODES. 183 

On my quiver' cl arm I bear 
Many an arrow swift and rare ; 
Dealt to the wise delight they bring, 
To vulgar ears unmeaning ring. 
Genius his stores from nature draws ; 
In words not wit the learned shine ; 

Clamorous in vain, like croaking* daws, 
They rail against the bird of Jove divine. t 

A^TISTROPHE V. 

Heed not thou their envious tongue, 

Straight to the mark advance thy bow ;t 
Whither, brave spirit, shall thy song 

Throw the shaft of glory now % 

ho it flies, by Justice sent, 

Full at famous Agrigent ; 
While truth inspires me thus to swear, 
That Time shall waste his hundredth year 
Ere race or realm a King shall raise, 
Whose liberal heart, whose loaded hand 

Shall paragon with Theron's praise, 
Or strew, like his, its blessings through the land. 

Achilles, as was also Cycnus, at the Trojan war. The latter was the 
son of Neptune, and being invulnerable, Achilles pressed him to the 
ground, whereupon he was turned into a swan. — See Ov. Met. lib. xii. 
145, and lib. xiii. 580. There was another Cyenus, the son of Mars, 
mentioned by Hesiod to have been slain by Hercules (Scut. Here. 1. 420). 
Pausanias (lib. i. c. 27) saw a representation of the combat in statuary 
at Athens, in or near the temple of Minerva Polias. 

* This passage is supposed to have been levelled at Bacchylides and 
other contemporary poets, envious of the celebrity of Pindar. Theocritus 
has a similar passage regarding Homer, 

The Muses' birds, that chirp their envious strain 
Against the Chian bard, and toil in vain. — Idyl. vii. 1. 4.7. 
See, also, Tryphiodorus, 246. 
t So Anacreon, Od. 64. 

Bring the dart and bend thy bow, 
Strike, my soul, the mark and go. 



184 



OLYMPIC ODES. 



[ODE III. 



EPODE V. 

Yet e'en his virtues to assail 

Hath headstrong Envy spurr'd Injustice* forth, 
Blotting with hostile arm, and slanderous tale, 
To hide in mischief's shade the lamp of worth. 
But, if the numberer toils in vain 
To count the sands t that heap the wave-worn beach ; 

The joys, the graces of his bounteous reign 
What memory can record ? What soaring song can reach 1 



ODE III. 

TO THE SAME THERON. 



STROPHE I. 

To please the bright-hair'd Helen, J and the Twins 

Of Tyndarus, gods of hospitable love, 
With Agrigent's renown my boast begins ; 
While wreaths for Theron from th' Olympian grove, 
Borne by th' unwearied steeds away, 
I twine. Eor this beside me stood 
Th' inspiring Muse, and to the Dorian mood 
Tuned for her glorious choir my new-embellished lay. 

* Our poet here alludes to Capys and Hippocrates, both relatives of 
Theron, who, forgetting all his kindnesses in their envy of his fame and 
power, made war against him, and were deservedly defeated in the 
neighbourhood of Himera in Sicily. 

f See Olyirvp. ode xiii. ep. 2. 

So Homer makes Achilles say in answer to the offers of Agamemnon, 
Not, were his gifts as countless as the sand. — 77. ix. 385. 

The same image occurs, also, in the Sacred Writings, and in Virgil, 
who has, in his animated manner, enriched it with a local picture. 
To tell them, were to count the whirling sand 
Roused by the tempest on the Libyan strand. — Geor. ii. 105. 

.t Thin o.ie is evidently written in honour of a victory won by Theron 
in a chariot-race at Olympia, but whether in the same to which the 
former ode relates has not been ascertained. Helen and her brothers 
Castor and Pollux (the daughter and twin sons of Leda and Tyndarus) 
were highly honoured at Agrigentum and at Argos, from whence, as 
appears by the third strophe in the preceding ode, the ancestors of 
Theron were derived. The poet distinguishes them by the epithet 



ODE III.] OLYMPIC ODES. 185 



ANTISTROPHE I. 

Those high-toss'd heads, with glittering* chaplets bound, 

Challenge my spirit to this task divine, 
The shrill-toned pipe, the varying lyre to sound 
In full concordance to the swelling line, 
Which thus, .ZEnesidamus, t throws 
On thy brave son its mingled praise — 
Applauding Pisa too demands my lays, 
Whence many a heav'n-taught hymn for conquering cham- 
pions flows : 

EPODE i. 

Champions, whose brows th' iEtolian;j; seer, 

That gives th' Herculean mandates old, 
The Game's unerring arbiter, 

Bids Victory's graceful prize enfold : 
He round their locks the silvery olive § flings ; 
Whose leaves of yore Amphitryon's || son, 
To frame Olympia's matchless crown, 
From freezing regions brought, and Ister'sIF shadowy springs. 

(ptXo^elvoig, i. e. friendly to strangers, hospitable : as Theocritus (Idyl. 
xxii. 1. 6, 7 — 17 — 19) describes them as the saviours of mortals, and 
(probably with reference to the constellation named after them) as having 
power to allay the fury of the winds and waves ; in which be is imitated 
by Horace. 

* We learn, also, from Theocritus, that the winning horses were 
always crowned with chaplets. 

There e'en the rapid steeds their honours claim, 

And leave with chaplets crown'd the sacred game. — Idyl. xvi. 1. 46. 

f The father of Theron. 

£ JEtolian seer. The judges of the games, called the Hellanodics, 
were all Eleans. Our author, in calling the judge an iEtolian, alludes 
to Oxylus the ^Etolian, who led the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus, and 
was made king of Elis, and the first arbiter of the Olympic games, for 
which reason the judge is called by Pindar an iEtolian, appointed to 
execute the ordinances of Hercules their founder. 

§ The tree from which the Olympic crowns were taken grew within 
the Altis, near the Temple of the Nymphs, and was called KaXXiffrepavog, 
expressing at once its beauty (or perhaps its glory) and its use. — Paus. 
lib. v. c. 15. 

I! Hercules, though sometimes said to be the son of Jupiter, is here, 
as by many other authors, called the son of Amphitryon, his mother's 
husband. 

TT Ister, the Greek and Latin name for the Danube. 



18G OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE III. 



STROPHE II. 

He th' Hyperborean tribes* and chieftains wild, 

That bend the knee before Apollo's shrine, 
Peaceful besought ; and with persuasion mild, 
To form his Sire's capacious grove divine, 
The conqueror's wreath, the stranger's shade,t 
Won the fair plant : for on the plain 
Jove's altar smoked, and from her golden wain 
The Moon J with rounded orb, Eve's radiant eye displayed. 

* The Hyberboreans, whoever they were, are here considered as in- 
habiting near the fountains of the Danube, and worshippers of Apollo ; 
who was supposed (as Chandler tells us, vol. ii. p. 294) to visit them late 
in the spring after the season for consulting him at Delphi ended, and, 
according to Claudian, to have retired thither after the final cessation of 
that oracle. 

driven from Delphi's silent cells 

'Mongst Hyperborean hearths Apollo dwells. — Claudian. 

We learn from Pausanias (lib. i. c. 31) that the Hyperboreans sent 
annually their first-fruits to Apollo's temple, in the Prasian Borough in 
Attica, by delivering them to the Arimaspians, by whom they were 
handed to the Issedonians, by them to the Scythians, by them to the 
Sinopeans, and from thence through Greece to the Athenians, who had 
the honour of sending them to Delos. How the neighbours of the 
Arimaspians could have been supposed to dwell near the fountains of the 
Danube, and at the same time north of Boreas, those only can conceive 
who have noticed our author's extraordinary ignorance of geography. 
This annual visit of Apollo, so often identified with the sun, to this 
northern nation, had possibly its origin in the periodical movement 
of that luminary to the northern tropic. In the same manner Ilithyia 
or Lucina, as frequently confounded with Diana and the Moon, is said 
to have come from the Hyperboreans to assist the labour of Latona. — 
Paxts. lib. i. c. 18. Apollo is described in the 8th Olympic Ode, stro. iii. 
as driving his chariot to the Danube, and in the 10th Pythian Ode, 
ep. iii. as being delighted with the barbarous solemnities of the Hyper- 
boreans. After all it will appear doubtful, when we come to the exploit 
of Perseus related in the latter ode, whether Africa was not the resi- 
dence of this problematical generation. 

t The conqueror's wreath, the stranger's shade ; — so Virgil, 

Th' umbrageous tree, that bore th' Herculean crown. — Georg. ii. 66. 

J The Olympic Games were celebrated every fifth year, and always 
began on the day after the full of the first new moon that happened 
after the summer solstice. The learned reader will remember a descrip- 
tion of this luminary, as represented on the shield of Tydeus at the 
siege of Thebes. 



ODE III.] OLYMPIC ODES. 187 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

Then too, the pure Tribunal to preside 

At his Great Games, the proud Quinquennial* Feast 
'Stablish'd had he by Alpheus' sacred tide : 

Yet not, as now, then waved the Cronian waste 
With woods umbrageous ; but on high, 
When Pelops held his ruder reign, 
The dazzling sun-beam smote th' unsheltered plain ; 
'Twas then the tracts he sought, that skirt th' Arctoic sky. 

EPODE II. 

Him there Latona's huntress-child 

From fair Arcadia's vales received, 
Deep winding vales and mountains wild ; + 
What time by stern EurystheusJ grieved 
Necessity, that bound his Sire in heaven, 
Task'd him in that bleak waste to find 
The golden-horn'd and sacred hind,§ 
To chaste Orthosia's shrine by fair Atlantis given. 

Full on the shield emblazed the Queen of Stars, 
Night's radiant eye, the dazzling Moon appears. — 

jEschyl. 'Ettt. 1. 386. 

It is observable that the moon is here classed among the stars, as the 
sun i3 in the first Olympic Ode, stro. i. Tryphiodorus represents the 
moon as gilding the heavens with her countenance, as Pindar has 
here mounted her in a golden chariot. — Tryph. 1. 513. 

* We learn from Pausanias that those who attribute the establish- 
ment of the Olympic Games to another Hercules, the youngest of 
the Idaei Dactyli, who were five brothers, suppose that the period of 
five years for each Olympiad was fixed upon for that reason. — Paus. 
lib. v. c. 7. 

t The reader will find a print and an interesting description of this 
scenery in Dodwell's Travels, v. ii. p. 338. 

J We learn from Homer (II. lib. xix. 1. 103, et seq.) that, when the 
birth of Hercules was hourly expected, Juno prevailed on Jupiter to 
swear that one of his progeny, to be born on that day, should have 
dominion over all his neighbours ; that, having obtained this promise, 
she accelerated the birth of Eurystheus, who was descended from Jupiter 
through Perseus, and postponed that of Hercules till the day after ; 
whereby the former became irrevocably the master of the latter, and 
employed him upon all his celebrated labours. 

§ Diana seems to have been called Orthosia from Orthion or Orthosion, 
an Arcadian mountain, on which probably she was worshipped. Taygeta, 
one of the daughters of Atlas (whom I have therefore called Atlantis), 



188 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE III. 



STROPHE III. 

Bent on the search, beyond where Boreas brew'd 

His wintry blast, the wondrous realm he found, 
Their groves with fond desire admiring view'd, 

And thence, his Hippodrome's twelve-circled round 
To shade, th' adopted plant removed. 
Still with the godlike Twins,* of yore 
Whom Leda's ample zone prolific bore, 
Oft to that feast he comes, and cheers the toils he loved. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Them, when the Hero mounted to the spheres, 

To guard his Games, where might for mastery strives 
With might, and skill the raging chariot steers, 
He charged : to them my soul for Theron gives 
The glory of the dazzling prize : 
Them, lords and lovers of the race, 
Th' Emmeniant Tribe salutes, their favouring grace 
With costliest banquets won, and frequent sacrifice. 

EPODE III. 

Such their rewards, whose customs most, 
Whose hearts the Gods in reverence hold. 

As water still is Nature's boast, 

And all Earth's treasures yield to gold,^ 



was tinned by Diana into a hind to avoid the amorous pursuit of Jupiter, 
and on recovering her shape dedicated to her benefactress the hind with 
golden horns ; which being afterwards lost, Hercules was sent by 
Eurystheus to the Hyperboreans in pursuit of it. Mr. Dodwell has 
given us an interesting description, accompanied with excellent plates, 
of some figures sculptured in the Archaic style, which he saw on the 
outside of a well at Corinth ; among which are those of Hercules, and 
of Diana leading the golden-horned hind, and in return for its recovery 
reconciling the hero to Apollo, from whom he had forcibly carried away 
the Delphic tripod. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. p. 201 . 

* Castor and Pollux. 

f TK Emmenian Tribe. This was the tribe to which Theron belonged 
at Agrigentum. It took its name from Emmenides, his grandfather ; 
whose father, Telemachus, had, according to the Scholiast, overturned 
the tyranny of Phalaris. 

X See first Olympic Ode, stro. i. 



ODE IV.] OLYMPIC ODES. 189 

Theron hath reached the limitary main, 

And touch'd with virtues all his own, 

Tli' Herculean pillars * of renown, 
Wit's, Folly's farthest bound, where song pursues in vain. 



ODE IV. 

TO PSAUMIST OF CAMARINA, 

Victor in the Chariot-race. 



STROPHE. 

Thou, that drive'st J in clouds above 
Th' impetuous thunder, mighty Jove ! 
Me with my lyre and varying strain 
Thy circling Hours § have sent again 

* TK Herculean pillars, 8fc. What the pillars of Hercules were, or 
where they were situated, is not known, except that it was at, or near, 
Gibraltar. Some place them within, some without, the Straits ; some 
have given the name to two islands, others to Calpe, now called the rock 
of Gibraltar, and to a mountain called Abila, on the coast of Africa. — 
Strabo, lib. iii. p. 258. However this may be, they were considered as 
the extreme western bounds, not only of navigation, but of the habitable 
globe, beyond which even Hercules, after the conquest of Geryon in 
Spain, did not venture to advance, but either erected or gave name to 
them as the future limits of all human enterprise. Our poet will be 
found to allude to them again in the same figurative manner in the third 
and fourth Nemean, and in the fourth Isthmian odes. 

t Psaumis, to whom this ode is addressed, was the son of Acron of 
Camarina (a city in Sicily, situated on the coast between Agrigentum 
and the promontory of Pachynum), and obtained this victory in the 
8 3d Olympiad. 

X I agree with Mr. Pye and the old Scholiast, that, by the words 
i\arfjp fipovrciQ aicafiavTOTroSog, the poet intended to represent Jupiter 
in the act of driving the thunder as a chariot. So Diespiter, as Horace 
tells us, 

Urged his swift car and thundering steeds. — b. i. ode 34. 

So, according to Virgil, Salmoneus realized the metaphor in his imita- 
tion of the thundering God. 

Fool, that with brazen wheel and trampling steed 

The matchless thunder mock'd and tempest's speed. — ^En. vi. 591. 

§ Thy circling Hours. The Hours, three in number, were considered 



190 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE IV. 

Their tuneful witness, to proclaim 

The glories of thy matchless Game. 
At Virtue's weal the just rejoice, and bless 
The tidings of a friend's success. 
But thou, Saturnian King, that dost display 
Through ^Etna's range thy partial sway ; 

Beneath whose huge* tempestuous cone 

The hundred heads of Typhon groan, 
hear th' advancing choir t prolong, 
Moved by the Graces, their triumphal song : 

ANTISTKOPHE. 

'Tis Virtue's lamp, whose living rays, 

Wide as her rule, for ever blaze ; 

Lo where it beams in Psaumis' car J 

That bears th' Olympian braid from far, 

In haste the blooming glory now 

To bind on Camarina's brow. 
Heaven speed his future vows, as now my lays 
With note sincere his •virtues praise. 
His boast to rear, to rule the panting steed : 
All guests his plenteous banquets feed ; 

by the ancient poets, &c. as the daughters of Jupiter, and were accord- 
ingly sculptured by Phidias over his throne in the celebrated temple at 
Olympia. — Paus. lib. v. c. 11. 

* Beneath whose huge, dr. Irrov r}ve^6sff<Tav in the original. iEschylus 
has a similar expression on the same subject, 

iTcoviuvoQ piZaiffiv AirvaiaiQinro. — Prom. S73. 

Where Mr. Blomfield, in his Glossary, quotes this passage. — Typhon 
was one of the fabulous giants, or monsters, that made war on Jupiter, 
who subdued and confined him under Mount vEtna, of which the reader 
will find a noble description in the first Pythian ode. It is easy to 
trace the origin of a fiction which refers the agitations of a burning 
mountain to the heaving of an imprisoned dragon, and the eruptions to 
the flames that issued from his hundred mouths. 

f Th' advancing choir. The chorus, who, accompanied with instruments 
of music, sung the song or ode in honour of the victor, are supposed to 
have moved on in the procession, using some step or time adapted to the 
nature of the harmony. 

J It should seem from this passage, that this ode, like the fifth, as 
West has observed, was intended to be sung and performed on the 
return of Psaumis to his native place. 



ODE IV.] OLYMPIC ODES. 191 

While with pure heart he wooes the hand 

Of genial Peace to bless the land. 
Ne'er shall untruth these lips profane ; 
Trial's the only test, that proves the man. 

EPODE. 

This from the Lemnian* dames' abuse 
Bedeem'd the son of Clymenus : 
At his grey locks their taunts they played ; 
But when in brazen armsf array'd 
Th' incumber'd race with ease he won, 
And calmly claimed th' unquestioned crown, 
To much abashed Hypsipyle, " Ev'n me 
" First of the swift, behold," said he, 
" Nor less in strength and prowess : age's snow 
" On youth's fair front will sometimes grow ; 
" But he, that does the deeds of manhood's prime, 
" May without blame look old before his time." 



* Jason, when engaged in the Argonautic expedition, landed, either 
outwards or homewards, at the island of Lemnos, in the ^3Egean Sea, 
where Hypsipyle, the queen, was celebrating funeral games to the 
memory of her father Thoas. On this occasion, the grey hairs of 
Erginus (son of Clymenus, the king of Orchomenus, in Bceotia, and 
brother of Eurydice, Nestor's wife, Paus. lib. ix. c. 37, and Odyss. 1. iii. 
451, 2), on his offering himself as a candidate in the armed foot-race, 
had excited the ridicule of the Lemnian ladies. He is said, however, to 
have succeeded, though Calais and Zethus (the winged sons of Boreas, 
see Pyth. ode iv. ep. 8) were his competitors. The Scholiast has assumed, 
without authority, that Psaumis had grey hairs, and that therefore 
Pindar introduced this story. As, however, the premature appearance 
of old age could not be a disqualification for a chariot-race, as it might 
seem to be for the foot-race, it is sufficient, if not more reasonable, 
merely to suppose that Psaumis had not been previously distinguished 
for his breed of horses, or at most that his success was unexpected. 

f The armed race was practised at the Nemean games (which appear 
from Pausanias, lib. ii. c. 15, to have been celebrated in the winter), and 
was introduced, as the same author tells us, at the Olympic games in the 
65th Olympiad. The competitors wore helmets and boots, and bore a 
shield before them, as appears from a statue of Demaratus, the first 
victor in this exercise, seen by Pausanias at Olympia. — Pans. lib. vi. 
c. 10. Mr. Dodwell informs us, that the helmets now usually found at 
that place, are so extremely thin as to be unfit for the purposes of war, 
and are, as he supposes, of the sort worn in the armed foot-race ; that 



192 



OLYMPIC ODES. 



[ode V. 



ODE V. 

TO THE SAME PSAUMIS OF CAMARIXA, 

Victor in the Race of Chariots drawn by Mules. 

STROPHE I. 

The flower of all the Olympian boughs, 
That bind exalted Virtue's brows, 
Take, Camarina,* with delight ; 

Take, shining Daughter of the Sea, 
What the swift mules,t the chariot bright, 
The conquering Psaumis brings to thee. 
Destin'd thy peopled state to raise 
He, at the Gods' high Festival, 
On;}; six joint hearths his offering lays, 
While incense fumes and victims fall. 
There five bright days, renown to gain, 
Skill, Bravery, Strength, the strife maintain • 



they resembled rather the light armour used by the ancients in proces- 
sions, called the o7r\o 7ron~evTr}nia, than the oirXa 7ro\tfxi<77i)oia, or 
warlike accoutrements, which Dionysius has contrasted with each other. 
—Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 331. 

* The lake Camarina, which adjoins the city of the same name, had a 
subterraneous communication with the Ocean, whose daughter she is 
from thence elegantly called. 

f This was a race between chariots, each drawn by two mules, called 
the Apene (cnvqvrj), in which Psaumis was victorious. As, however, 
the mule was considered by the Eleans as a monster, this species of race, 
which was first introduced in the 70th Olympiad, was finally abolished 
in the S4th.— Pans. lib. v. c. 9. 

% It was usual for a victor at the Olympic Games to sacrifice to the 
gods, to whom six great altars were there erected. The first of these, 
as Herodotus says, was dedicated to Jupiter and Neptune, the second 
to Juno and Minerva, the third to Mercury and Apollo, the fourth to 
Bacchus and the Graces, the fifth to Diana and the river Alpheus, and 
the sixth to Saturn and Rhea. Mars and "Venus, we see, are not 
noticed, war being suspended, and the presence of women not allowed 
at the Olympic Games. 



ODE V.] OLYMPIC ODES. 193 

There yoked or mounted, * mule and steed 

Through all the swift career 
Contest the panting prize of speed. 
Thee Acron's sonf proclaiming there, 
Hath proudly given to everlasting fame 
His country's rising towers, his Sire's ennobled name. 

STROPHE II. 

Returned from that delightful plain 
CEnomaiis' once and Pelops' reign, J 

Minerva's § shrine, whose fostering power 

Guards his young state, he hallows now, 
Oanus' || stream and many a bower 

That shades the glittering lake below ; 
Hallows the banks and solemn clifts, 

Where Hipparis' || wholesome waters rove, 
Laving his peopled realm. He lifts 
The pillar'd pile, the marble grove, 
"Whereon his princely chambers rise 
In swelling domes, that crown the skies. 
Thus his rude tribes, untrain'd, unform'd 

He rears to life and light : 
For Toil and "Wealth by Virtue warm'd 
Ever with Difficulty fight ; 

* Mr. West has conceived, that Pindar meant by this passage to 
represent Psaumis as having conquered at these Games in the single 
horse-race, as well as in the chariot-races of mules and horses. But I 
see no reason for this interpretation, which is neither supported by the 
Scholiasts, the Paraphrase, nor any of the Latin translations, nor, 
as it appears to me, justified by the text, in which these are only 
enumerated as splendid examples of the sports used at the Olympic 
festival. If that construction were the true one, it would follow, 
that Psaumis was engaged in every one of the other games during the 
live days. 

t Psaumis was the son of Acron, and had bestowed great care 
and expense upon the restoration and improvement of his native 
place, which had been destroyed by the Syracusians in the 70th 
Olympiad. 

X This is only a pompous periphrasis for the Elean territory. 

§ Minerva, whom our poet here calls TroXidoxog, was the Guardian 
Goddess of all Cities, and particularly of Camarina, where a temple was 
dedicated to her. 

II Oanus and Hipparis were rivers that flowed through Camarina. 
O 



19-4 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE V. 

While Enterprise no threatening danger scares, 
And all-adored Success the palm of Wisdom wears. 

STROPHE III. 

O Thou, that dwell'st in clouds above 
The Cronian Mount, Preserver* Jove, 
Whose favour still pursues the wave 

That wandering Alpheus pours along, 
Still beams on Ida's t awful cave, 

To thee thy suppliant rears his song ; 
In Lydian strain implores thy grace 
Long on this rising realm to wait, 
And send a sound adventurous race 
To guard and signalize their state. 
Thee, too, by victory taught to breed 
And cherish the Neptunian steed, 

Thee, Psaumis, grant the indulgent Power 

A calm old age to bear, 
And meet unmoved the parting hour, 
With all thy children standing near. 
If Wealth and Worth and Happiness and Fame. 
Be thine, among the Gods seek not t' inscribe thy name. 

* Preserver, Swr^o. There were many temples dedicated Au ^ujrijpi, 
to Jupiter the Preserver ; among others there was one at Athens, con- 
taining statues and pictures by celebrated artists. — Strab. lib. ix. p. 606. 
The propriety of addressing the God of Olympia by this title in an ode 
addressed to an Olympic victor, the restorer of his native city, so lately 
conquered and destroyed, will not escape the reader. 

f Ida's cave was a cave in Mount Ida in Crete, whither Rhea sent 
Jupiter, to conceal him from his father Saturn, who, according to the 
aucient fables, would otherwise have devoured him, knowing that he was 
destined to deprive him of his kingdom. 






ODE VI.] OLYMPIC ODES. 195 



ODE VI. 

TO AGESIAS THE SYRACUSIAX. 

Victor in the liace of Chariot $ drawn by Jfules. 

STROPHE I. 

Pillars of gold our portal to sustain, 
As for some proud and princely Place, 

"We'll rear : the founder of the strain 
With far-refulgent front his opening work should grace. 

And if there be, who boasts th' Olympian braid, 
Whose priestly* lips prophetic truths diffuse 

At Jove's Pisaean altar ; one, whose aid 
Hath help'd to t raise illustrious Syracuse ; 
Where are the high-wrought hymns, the glowing lays 
His countiy's lavish love shall swell not with his praise 1 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Know, son of Sostratus, that Heaven hath made 
This sandal for thy foot divine, j 

Yirtue, by peril unassay'd, 
On land or tranquil wave in honour ne'er can shine. 

* Agesias, the 'son 'of Sostratus of Syracuse, was the high priest, 
who officiated at the great altar of Jupiter, at Pisa, or Olympia, and 
declared, from, inspecting the burnt offerings, the disposition of the 
god towards the adventurers in the " games. — See Olymp. ode viii. 
stro. 1. 

t The word used in the original is crvvoitci<Trfip, which, according to 
Heyne's Translation and Damm's Lexicon, signifies one who assists in 
building or founding a city or state (as ouaor/yp is a founder. — Pyih. 
ode iv. stro. 1. Callim. Hym. Apol. 1. 67), — not as some have translated 
it, an inhabitant. I do not, however, suppose that the poet meant to 
describe Agesias himself as one of the builders or founders of Syracuse, 
but as descended from an ancestor who was ; and who, as we leam in 
the sequel of this ode, had come to that city (probably with the Dorians) 
from Stymphalus in Arcadia. 

£ This only means, according to our homely phrase, " This shoe fits 
the son of Sostratus:" that is, he is the person to whom the foregoing 
description applies. In the Greek, however (so different is the genius 

o2 



196 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VI. 

Th' adventurous deed a thousand hearts record. 

To thee the praise, Agesias, all shall yield, 
On OEcleus' son Amphiaraiis* pour'd 
By just Adrastus in the fatal field, 
When in Earth's yawning gulph th' astounded seer 
Sunk with his snorting steeds, chariot and charioteer. 

of the two languages), the expression is neither inelegant nor un- 
poetical. 

* Amphiaraiis was a prophet and a warrior, one of the seven chiefs 
who led the Argives against Thebes, to place Polynices on the throne. 
He was the son of OEcleus, who is said by some to have been killed 
before Troy in Hercules's war against Laomedon, but whose tomb 
Pausanias saw near Megalopolis in Arcadia. Amphiaraiis predicted 
future events by the art of interpreting dreams, of which Pausanias says 
that he was the inventor, though Pliny ascribes that honour to Amphic- 
tyon. His acquisition of this faculty appears to have been supernatural ; 
for there was a house at Phliuns near Nemea, which the Phliasians 
called the house of divination ; because Amphiaraiis, who was before un- 
gifted, obtained the power of prophecy by sleeping there a single night. 
— Paus. lib. ii. c. 13. It seems clear that he was a proficient in this art 
of oneirocrisy ; it being the practice after his apotheosis (for he 
became a god) for his worshippers to sleep beside his altar in the pious 
hope of a prophetic dream. There was, in the time of Pausanias, a. 
fountain and a temple named after him near Oropus, from whence he 
was supposed to have ascended. — Paus. lib. i. c. 34. But both the one 
and the other have entirely disappeared. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 156. The 
story of his being swallowed up with his chariot and horses was, 
perhaps, not very ancient, as Homer only says of him that he did not 
attain old age (Odyss. xv. 247), but perished at Thebes ; an expression 
which seems to indicate a more ordinary death ; and iEschylus has made 
him prophesy of himself, that he should be slain and buried in the 
Theban territory, — 

But I this land shall fatten when I die, 
This hostile land, a.prophet's sepulchre. 

The place, where the earth is said to have opened and swallowed 
Amphiaraiis, was a small area surrounded with pillars, between Potnia? 
and Thebes ; on which they say no bird would perch, and on the 
herbage of which no tame or even wild animal would feed. — Paus. 
lib. ix. c. 8. Strabo mentions a village called Harma (the Greek for a 
chariot) near Tanagra, where the chariot of Amphiaraiis was said to 
have stopped after he had been thrown out of it in the battle ; but he 
takes no notice of the account given by our poet, who was, perhaps, the 
inventor of it. 



ODE VI.] OLYMPIC ODES. 197 



EPODE I. 

'Twas there, when round th' heroic dead 
Sev'n Theban pyres were seen to burn, 
Sorrowing the son of Talaiis* said, 

" The eye of all rny host I mourn : 
" His searching soul the future knew ; 

" His spear controul'd the raging fray" — 
Such is the Syracusian too, 
The master of my lay. 
Nor brawl, nor paradox I love ; 
I hate with cavillers to contend ; 

But this my surest oath I've pledged to prove 
And the mellifluous Muse her lasting aid shall lend. 

STROPHE II. 

Bring forth thy mules, O Phintis,t and behind 
In haste the glittering harness join, 

With me thy chariot mount and find 
Along yon spacious road the cradle of his line. 

Full well, I ween, th' illustrious track they know, 

Learnt from the plaudits of th' Olympian throng 
That crown'd their necks with glory. Open throw 
To their careering speed the gates of song. 



* Adrastus was the son of Talaiis, and father of Thersander, and the 
only one of the seven leaders who survived the Theban war. Pausanias 
saw a statue of Adrastus at Delphi, and also of Amphiaraus with his 
chariot and charioteer standing by his side. — lib. x. c. 10. After the 
battle, before Thebes seven funeral piles for the bodies of the slain were 
erected near the seven gates, before each of which a division of the 
Argive army had been defeated. 

t This address to Phintis, Agesias's charioteer, requiring him to 
drive to Pitana, the birth-place of the founder of his race, is in the 
boldest strain of poetical apostrophe, which no one but Pindar or 
Shakspeare would have attempted. It appears, indeed, from the old 
Scholiast, and Heyne's various readings, that (pivrtq might be a Doric 
word for 0i\nc, signifying " my soul ;" in which case the remainder of 
the strophe must be considered as a mere metaphor, descriptive of the 
process of the poet's mind ; whereas the words aretpdvovg kv 'OXvfnria 
tTiil dk^avTo, plainly show that he was speaking of the real mules, 
and requesting the real charioteer to drive him to Pitana ; the whole 
being a figurative intimation of his purpose to illustrate his hero's 
genealogy. 



198 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VI. 

To-day we press for Pitana,* and lave 

Ere night our burning team in cool Eurotas wave. 

AXTISTROPHE II. 

Pair Pitana,t by Neptune's amorous prayer 
Press'd, as they tell, her charms to yield, 

The violet-tress'd Evadne * bare. 
She in her anxious breast the virgin pang concealed ■ 

Till, past the painful hour, a trusty train 

Charged with the pledge of her caelestial love 

To JEpytus§ she sent, who ruled the plain, 

Where Alpheus' waves by famed Ph£esana|| rove. 
There nurtured, with Apollo tasted she 
The tempting fruit that grows on Love's forbidden tree. 

EPODE II. 

Escaped not long the guardian King 

Her altering form, the stolen embrace : 
Rage and regret his bosom wring ; 

Where, burying still th' unknown disgrace, 
Forthwith the Delphian Fane he sought. 

Meanwhile to shadiest covert lone ' 
Her silver urn the damsel brought ; 

There loosed her purple zone, 



* Pltana was a town on the banks of the Laconian Eurotas, which 
flows through a fertile plain, flanked on the west by Mount Taygetus, 
and displaying an assemblage of picturesque objects, which Mr. Dodwell, 
who saw them with a painter's eye, prefers to every other specimen of 
Grecian scenery. — JDodv:. vol. ii. 409. 

+ Fair Pitana. Our poet in this, as in many other instances, iden- 
tifies the town with the heroine, whose name it bears, and relates the 
story of the latter. 

J Evad.nl, the mother of Iamus, from whom Agesias was descended. 
There was another Evadne, who married Capaneus, one of the seven 
Argive leaders in the Theban war. 

§ sEpytus, the son of Eilatus, king of Arcadia ; whose tomb beneath 
Mount Cyllene existed in the days of Homer. 

They who beneath Cyllene's lofty crest, 
Beside the tomb of jEpytus posses.Vd 
Arcadia's plain. — II. ii. G05. 

!| Phcesana, a city some say of Elis, others of Arcadia ; probably the 
latter, as it was the residence of -Epytus, who, as we have seen, was 
buried there. 



ODE VI.] OLYMPIC ODES. 199 

And bore the godlike babe unseen 
Fill'd with the spirit of his Sire ; 

Who with his golden locks and graceful mien 
Tli' assistant Fates* had won, and soothed Eleutho'st ire. 

STROPHE HI. 

Forth from her arms with short and grateful throe 
Came Iamus to light : her child 

On th' Earth she left o'erwhelmed with woe : 
Him there two Serpent forms with eyes of azure mild, 

Mysterious ministers of love divine, 

Fed with the baneless beverage of the bee : % 

When now from rocky Pytho's§ warning shrine 
In haste the King return'd, and earnestly 
From all his question'd household 'gan require 
Evadne's new-born son, — " For Phoebus is his sire, 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

" Destin'd before all mortals to prevail 
" The peerless prophet of mankind ; 

" Whose race, whose name shall never fail." 
Thus represented he : they with one voice combined 
All vow'd their ignorance : nor sight had seen, 

Nor infant sound had heard : for he five days 
'Mong shrubs and pathless briars and rushes green 
Had lain, the dewy violet's mingled rays|| 

* Fates. The three Fates, well known by the names of Clotho, 
Lachesis, and Atropos, were said to be the daughters of Jupiter and 
Themis, that is, of Power and Justice. — Hesiod, Thcog. 904. 

t Eleutho, or Ilithyia, the same with Lucina, the daughter of Juno, 
and the Goddess of Parturition. — See Nemean ode vii. 1. 1, and notes. 

X The bee. The bees were said by the Greeks to have settled upon 
Plato's lips, and to have nourished Pindar, in their infancies ; denoting 
thereby the eloquence of the former and the poetry of the latter ; who 
may himself have alluded in this passage by the same fiction to the 
prophetic effusions of Iamus and his race. 

§ Rocky Pytho, TreTpaeaaag : the same characteristic epithet is given 
by Homer (//. ii. 519) to this place, afterwards more commonly called 
Delphi, the seat of the celebrated oracle of Apollo, situated near the 
fountain of Castalia, among the rocks and cliffs that projected and 
rise almost around it at the foot of Mount Parnassus. — Strdb. lib. ix. 
6i0. 

II Rays sprinkling, &6. The words, in the beautiful original of this 
passage, are, clktIcti J3t€r)Eyvsvce, ; so Lucretius, 



200 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VI. 

Sprinkling with purple and gold his tender frame : 
Whence fond Evadne's joy proclaimed his deathless name.* 

EPODE III. 

Now when fresh youth its golden flower 

Fnll o'er his blooming cheeks had strew'd, 
Alone at night's tempestuous hourt 

In Alpheus' midmost stream he stood. 
He call'd his grandsire Neptune's name, 

Wide Ruler of the boisterous deep ; 
Call'd on that Archer J God whose flame 
Beams on the Delian steep ; 
For patriot fame he pour'd his prayer 
Beneath the vault of heav'n : " My son," 

Replied his Sire's unerring speech, " repair 
To yon frequented tract, my Word shall lead thee on." 

STROPHE IV. 

Forthwith they stood on Cronium's topmost stone, 
High as the sun's meridian road ; § 

There paused the God, and on his son 
The rich and twofold boon of prophecy || bestow'd : 

Mark how th' aethereal sun incessantly 

With fresh refulgence sprinkles all the sky. — b. v. 

* His deathless name. The Greek word for violet is lov, ion ; from 
whence our author (not very obviously) supposes that the name of 
Iiimus was derived. 

f See Olympic ode i. antistrophe iii. Where Pelops invokes Neptune 
by night in the same manner. 

X Archer God. Apollo, whom Homer calls apyvporoZog, and "Virgil 
Arcitenens ; as Lucretius, imitated by Grey, calls tbe rays of light, 
lucida tela diei, the glittering shafts of day. 

§ Damm, in his Lexicon, derives the word aX'i&arov from dXiraoj, 
titubo, to totter, and /3aaic, gressus, a step, and explains it to mean 
invia et praerupta, i. e. an inaccessible rock, or a rock on which there is 
no sure footing : I have, however, adopted, what he calls, the exploded 
etymology of ijXiog and /3atVw, denoting a place as high as the sun's 
path, which appears to me to be at least a more poetical expression of 
altitude than the other. 

|| The commentators are not agreed as to what our author meant by 
this twofold boon of prophecy : — Heyne thinks that he meant augury 
and pyromancy ; Benedict suggests that it is pyromancy and enthusiasm ; 
and the Scholiast, that it was the privilege, first, of hearing Apollo's 
own voice on that occasion, and, secondly, of officiating as priest, when 



ODE VI.] OLYMPIC ODES. 201 

Gave him to hear the voice that cannot lie ; 
Bade him, -when Hercules* in after-days, 
Flower of the great Alcaean progeny, 

His Sire's frequented Festival should raise 
And proud Olympian Game, by gift divine 
On Jove's high altar plant his oracle and shrine. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Thence through all Greece the seed of I'amus 
Bright Honour followed ; in its train 

Came potent Wealth ; the virtuous thus 
To Fame's conspicuous path by action proved attain. 

Yet envious hearts there are no worth can warm ; 
Which e'en the chariot-crown with rancour fills 

'Gainst modest Merit ; o'er whose brightening form 
Victory her own ingenuous grace distils. 
If yet, Agesias, thy maternal race, 
Whose affluent dwellings rose by old Cyllenc'sf base, 

EPODE IV. 

Have knelt at Mercury's;}; sacred shrine 

The swift-wing'd herald of the skies, 
With soothing prayers and gifts divine ; 

(He guards the games, allots the prize, 



the games should thereafter be established, at Jove's high altar at 
Olympia. I have preferred the latter as more obvious and more con- 
sistent with the structure of the passage. 

* Hercules. See Olympic ode iii. antistrophe ii., and Olympic ode x. 
strophe iii. et seqq. 

t Cyllend is the highest mountain in Arcadia, near which is the lake 
and the ruins (formerly the town) of Stymphalus, where the maternal 
ancestors of Agesias had their origin. 

X Mercury is said to have been born on this mountain, 

Mercury, whom lovely Maia long before 

On cold Cyllene's top impregnate bore. — Virg. JBn. viii. 139. 

The ruins of the temple of this god were visible on its summit in the 
days of Pausanias, and a colossal statue of him made of citron wood. — 
Pans. lib. viii. c. 17. And Mr. Dodwell tells us that there are to this 
day coins at Pheneas, a town built on one of the branches of Cyllene, 
bearing some the figure, some the head, of Mercury. That Pindar was 
partial to this deity may, perhaps, be in some degree supposed from his 



202 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VI. 

And loves Arcadia's youth) ; 'twas lie, 
Aided by thundering Jove's regard, 
Gave, son of Sostratus, to thee 
Thy conquest and reward — 
A prompting power, methinks, I feel 
A sharpening whetstone on my tongue ; * 

That stirs my flowing numbers to reveal 
Our old Arcadian root, and leads the willing song. 

strophe v. 

'Twas fair Metope st love, Styniphalian spouse, 
To Thebes equestrian Thebe gave ; 

In whose sweet fount, for warriors' brows 
Weaving the various hymn, my tuneful lips I lave. 



tracing the genealogy of Thebe, the tutelary genius of Thebes, to 
Metope, the Styniphalian : we learn also from Pausanias, that there was 
a statue of him, the poet's own offering, in the Temple of Diana, in that 
city. — Pans. lib. ix. c. 17. The interest which Mercury is here re- 
presented to have taken in the Games is repeated in the first antistrophe 
of the second Pythian. We learn also from Chandler (vol. ii. p. 323), 
that the roads near Olympia abounded with his statues ; and his altar 
was at the entrance of the Stadium. — See Paus. lib. v. c. 14, where, as 
in the second Pythian, he is called Enagonius, that is, the patron of the 
Games. Being also the inventor of the lyre, and the god of agility, he 
could not fail to be an object of regard to the lyric panegyrist of the 
Olympic exercises. 

* Tongue. In this strange passage, where in the original all sorts of 
metaphors are mixed together, the tongue is likened to a sharp instru- 
ment ; as it is again in the first Pythian ode, stro. v., and as in Holy 
Writ, "and their tongue a sharp sword." 

f Metope*. Metope (as we learn from Callimachus, Hymn. Jup. 1. 26), 
was an ancient river of Arcadia, said to be the daughter of Ladon, 
another river of the same country celebrated for the excellence of its 
water. — Paus. lib. viii. c. 20. She is said to have been wedded to 
Asopus, a river of Bceotia, and that Thebe was the issue of the marriage. 
In this allegorical genealogy is probably recorded the arrival of a colony 
of Arcadians from the banks of the Metope to the banks of the Asopus 
in Bceotia, and the foundation or enlargement of the Theban city, thus 
substantially, as she is colourably represented in this pleasing fiction, 
the offspring of the two rivers. The poet gives the epithet irXd^anroQ, 
chastiser of horses, which I have rendered by equestrian, to Thebe the 
genius of Thebes, signifying that the Thebans were skilled in the 
management of horses either for battle or the race. Hesiod, his country- 
man, gives the same epithet to the Boeotians. — Scut. Here. 1. 24. 



ODE VI.] OLYMPIC ODES. 203 

Rise, ^Eneas,* and enjoin thy swelling choirs 

To sing Partheniant Juno, then declare, 
If the stale stigma that belied our Sires, 

(Boeotian boars,:}: forsooth) ! we still shall bear. 
Thou art Truth's harbinger, the Muse's tongue, 
Her mystic § staff, the cup that pours her potent song. 

* iEneas (whose name Mr. Pye pronounces like that of the founder 
of the Romans), was the leader of the band or chorus, by whom tliLs ode 
was to be sung. 

+ Partlicnian Juno. The Scholiasts, Damm, Heyne, and others, con- 
sider this epithet to have been given to Juno from her being, as they say, 
■worshipped on Mount Parthenius in Arcadia. The reader will judge 
whether it is not probable that Pindar, by the epithet 7rap6tviav, meant 
the virgin Juno, in a passage which ascribes to his nation a Stymphalian 
origin of remote antiquity ; rather than that he was referring to Mount 
Parthenius, situated, according to D'Anville, at a considerable distance 
from Stymphalus, between Tegea and the Argolic gulph. 

$ Boeotian boars. This name was given to the Boeotians to denote 
their proverbial stupidity, which Horace, as we know, ascribes to the 
thickness of the atmosphere. It is suggested that the name i<g (hus, a 
boar) was given to them in consequence of their country being anciently 
inhabited by a race called the vavreg, Huantes ; but that word might- 
have had the same origin. 

§ Mystic staff. The word o-tcvraXr), scutate, which I have thus trans- 
lated, signifies a military staff in use among the Spartans for the purpose 
of conveying secret orders to their general. It was a smooth cylinder 
or truncheon, which was delivered to him at his departure from the city; 
where another of the same size and shape was kept by the chief magis- 
trate. When the orders were required to be sent, a narrow band was 
wound spirally round the latter from one end to the other, so that the sides 
or edges of the band exactly coincided -without any interval between 
them, the whole surface of the staff being thus completely covered. 
The orders were then written in straight lines longitudinally from end 
to end across the spiral windings of the band, which was then taken off 
and transmitted to the general ; the staff round which it had been wound 
remaining with the magistrate. The general who received the band had 
only to wind it in the same manner round the corresponding staff in his 
possession, by means of which the words and letters were again reunited 
and arranged, and the orders, which the messenger could not decypher, 
became immediately intelligible. — Thueyd. lib. i. The reader will per- 
ceive how accurately iEnSas, who was to bear the ode to Syracuse, to be 
there opened and poured forth, is represented by the scutale and the cup, 
to which the poet has compared him. 



204 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VI. 



AXTISTROPH-E V. 

Bid them remember Syracuse, and sing 
Of proud Ortygia's throne, secure 

In Hiero's rule, her upright king. 
"With frequent prayer he serves and worship pure 
The rosy-sandal'd Ceres,* and her fair 

Daughter, whose car the milk-white + steeds impel, 
And Jove, whose might th' ^tnaeanj fires declare. 
The lay, the sweet-toned lyre his praises tell ; 
Time, mar not his success ! with welcome sweet 
Agesias' choral pomp his liberal smile shall greet. 

epode v. 

Lo from Arcadia's parent seat, 

Her old Stymphalian walls, they come, 
From fields with flocks o'erspread, to meet 

Sicilia's swains, from home to home. 
O'er the swift prow, when night-storms lour, 

Two anchors oft 'tis well to cast — 
Heav'n on them both its blessings pour, 
And bid their glories last. 
Lord of the main ! direct aright, 
With toils unvex'd their prosperous way ; 

Spouse of the golden- wanded Ainphitrite,§ 
With lovelier hues enrich the flowers that crown my lay. 

* Ceres and her daughter Proserpine were worshipped in Sicily, from 
whence the latter, while gathering flowers in the field of Enna, is said 
to have been ravished by Pluto, and carried to the shades below ; and 
Hiero is said to have been their high priest. Ceres was also highly 
honoured at Olyrnpia, where her priestess, exclusively of all other females, 
was permitted to sit on an altar of white marble, opposite the Hellanodics, 
at the celebration of the games. 

f Milk-white steeds. The Scholiast informs us, that when Ceres reco- 
vered Proserpine from her Stygian ravisher, she took her to Olympus in 
a chariot drawn by white horses ; but whether in token of her innocence 
or dignity, or both, is not explained. 

t JEtncean, &c. Jupiter was the tutelary deity of Mount iEtna as 
well as of Olyrnpia. — Olympic ode iv. stro. i. and Pythian ode i. 
antistro. ii. 

§ Amphitrite (the daughter of Nereus and of Doris, the daughter of 
Oceanus) was the wife of Neptune. — Hes. Theog. 1. 240. There was a 
statue of them both mounted in a chariot, which Pausanias saw in the 
temple of the Isthmian Neptune. — Pans. lib. v. c. 1. 



ODE VII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 205 

ODE VII* 

TO DIAGORAS OF RHODES, 

Victor in the Game of Boxing. 

STROPHE I. 

As one, whose wealthy hands enfold 
The sparkling cupt of massy gold 
Froth'dJ with the vineyard's purple tide, 
His Banquet's grace, his Treasure's pride, 
Presents it to the youthful spouse 
Pledged in full draught from house to house ; 

And thus affection's honours fondly paid, 
While on the soft connubial hour 
Encircling friends their blessings pour, 

Gives to his envied arms the coy consenting maid. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Thus to the Youth, whose conquering brow 
Th' Olympian wears or Pythian bough, 
Lord of his hope, inspired I pay 
The tribute of my liquid lay, 
The nectar || of the Muse's bowl, 
Press' cl from the clusters of the soul. 

* This ode is said to have been so pleasing to the Khodiaus, that they 
had it written in letters of gold, and consecrated in the temple of the 
Lindian Minerva, in honour not only of their island and its boasted 
champion, but of our immortal poet. 

T I have not been able to find any other mention of this interesting 
ingredient in the nuptial ceremony, which, from the manner in which it 
is introduced on this occasion, was no doubt familiar to the Greeks. A 
recent account of the rites of modern marriages in that country tells us, 
that the solemnity concludes with the bride and bridegroom drinking 
wine out of the same cup. See Quarterly Review, vol. xxiii. p. 348. 

% Froth'd, d-c. I am not aware of any English word equivalent to 
the original Kax\aZ,oi(jav, which is meant to express the rustling sound 
of brisk wine poured into a goblet, occasioned by the bursting of its 
minute and innumerable bubbles. .^Eschylus applies it in the same 
manner to the frothings of the sea. Kvfia Kax^a&i. — 'E7rr. 110. 

|[ The nectar, <tc. This comparison of poetry and nectar, in term3 
resembling this passage, had occurred also to Anacreon. 
Pledge to the youths thy goblet gay, 
The goblet of thy winning lay, 



206 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VII. 

Blest they, whose deeds applauding worlds admire ! 

For them, as each her glance partakes, 

The life-enlightening Grace* awakes 
The various vocal flute, the sweet melodious lyre. 

ErODE I. 

To-day the lyre and flute and song, 

Roused by Diagoras,t I move, 
Hymning fair Rhode J from Venus sprung, 

The Sun's own Nymph § and watery love : 

Till every thirsty soul has quaff 'd 
The solace of the nectar'd draught, &e. — Ode Ixiv. 
To which we may add a beautiful though well-known line from 
Theocritus, 

The Muse had pour'd sweet nectar on his lips. — Idyl. vii. 1. 82. 

* It is difficult to distinguish the Graces from the Muses by the 
functions ascribed to them by Pindar. Whatever difference, however, 
there is between them, appears to be in favour of the Graces, whom he 
makes the givers of every noble accomplishment. — See Olymp. ode ix. 
ep. i. and Olymp. ode xiv. stro. i. 

+ Diagoras. This celebrated champion was six feet five inches high, 
and was victorious in the boxing-match, not only at the Olympic, but at 
the Pythian and Isthmian Games. He was the son of Damagetus the 
Rhodian, and had three sons, named Acusilaus, Damagetus, and Dorieus, 
and two grandsons, Eucles and Pisidorus, the sons of his two daughters, 
who were all victorious at Olympia, as boxers or pancratiasts. It is 
said of Pisidorus, that his mother, habited as a gymnastic master, exer- 
cised him for, or led him to, the contest ; and of Diagoras, that having 
gone with his two sons, Acusilaiis and Damagetus, to Olympia, the 
youths, on being declared victorious, bore him in their arms through the 
midst of the spectators, who showered garlands on his head, and felici- 
tated him on the virtues of his children. A group of statues repre- 
senting this athletic family as large as life was erected near that of 
Lysander in the Altis at Olympia. — See the old and younger Scholiast, 
and Pausanias, lib. vi. c. 7. 

t Rhode. The Genius of Rhodes is here poetically represented as the 
daughter of Venus, and as the bride or paramour of the Sun. Venus, or 
Aphrodite, as we know, is said by Hesiod to have risen from the sea ; 
and therefore Pindar, as Mr. Girdlestone well observes, agrees with 
others, who refer the parentage of Rhode more directly to the deities of 
that element, and with his own account in this ode of the origin of the 
Isle itself. The proverbial sunnyness of its climate, where they say the 
sun shines every day in the year, will explain her allegorical dalliance 
with that luminary ; and its descent from the beautiful daughter of the 
sea probably refers to the loveliness of its scenery and to its commercial 
and maritime pre-eminence. 

§ Nymph. This word, vv/xtpav in the original, dignifies the bride or 
paramour. 



ODE VII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 207 

With her the giant boxer's praise to sound, 

The champion's noblest hire, 
By Alpheus' stream,* Castalia's fountain crown'd; 
And Damagete his old and upright Sire, 
Pride of the beauteous Isle, whose Argivet host 
By Asia's beaked J shore three § Sovereign Cities boast. 

STROPHE II. 

Fain would my lay their legends trace, 

Divine Alcides' powerful race 

From old Tlepolemus,|| and prove 

Their boasted Sire's descent from Jove, 

Amyutor's fair Astydame 

The root of their maternal tree. 



* Alpheus^ stream, &c. The river Alpheu3 flowing by Olympia, and 
the fountain of Castalia issuing from Parnassus but just above the Sta- 
dium at Pytho, the poet means that Diagoras was victorious both at 
the Pythian and Olympic Games. 

T Argive host. The island of Rhodes was partly peopled by a colony 
of Argives, led thither by Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules. 

X Asia's beaked shore. The northern end of this island lies opposite 
to the promontory of Peraea in Caria, not far from, if not a part of, the 
south-western extremity of Mount Taurus (Stra. lib. xiv. p. 962), and 
projecting probably like the beak of a ship into the sea. So Milton 
speaks of the gust 

That blows from off each beaked promontory. — Lycid. 94. 
I conclude, therefore, with Heyne, that this was what the poet meant 
by 'Am'ac tvpvxopov iraXaQ £ju£6/\y, "near the beak of the spacious 
Asia." The Schobast mentions a sacred spot called tfi€o\og on a rock 
running into the sea, near the town of Arycanda in Lycia, to which 
he supposes the poet may refer. Those who have failed with me in 
discovering its situation (there being no such town in DAnville), will 
perhaps agree with Heyne, that his is the safer and more simple ex- 
position. 

§ Three Sovereign Cities. These three cities, as appears in the latter 
part of this ode, were called Ialysus, Lindus, and Cameirus, founded by 
three persons bearing those names, but, according to otheis, by Tle- 
polemus. 

|| Tlepolemus was the son of Hercules, by Astydameia or Astydame, 
the daughter of Amyntor, the same probably whom Homer calls Astyo- 
cheia (II. ii. 658), but whom he does not describe in v. 513 to be the 
daughter of Actor, as one of the Scholiasts erroneously supposes. If 
Amyntor was, as the other Scholiast suggests, descended from Tlepole- 
mus, it would have been idle in the poet to have named Astydameia as 
the root of the maternal pedigree. 



208 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VII. 

But o'er men's hearts unnumber'd errors hang ; 

Nor can dim Reason's glimmering show 

The flowery path untrod by woe, 
Or find the day's delight, that brings no morrow's pang.' :-r 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

For ev'n the founder chief,t that plann'd 
The fortunes of this prosperous land, 
With olive club by rage impell'd, 
Alcmena's spurious brother fell'd : 
Midst Tiryns' walls by Midea's side 
In her own porch Licymnius died. 

Alas ! not Wisdom's self has power to quell 
The furious passions, when they meet 
To tear her from her judgment-seat ! 

Distracted at the deed he sought the Delphian cell. 

EPODE II. 

Apollo waved his golden locks, 

And warn'd him from his fragrant fane, 

Forthwith to steer from Lerna'sJ rocks 
For the rich realm amidst the main, 



* Hesiod has a similar sentiment, viz. — 

Wisest is he who, all things understood, 
Prescribes the future in the present good. 

t TJie founder chief. Tlepolemus, who (by accident, as others say) 
slew Lycimnius, the natural son of Midea by Alectryon, Alcmena's 
father. Tiryns was an Argive city, celebrated for its massive walls, 
consisting of huge blocks of stone without cement, and said to have 
been erected by the Cyclops. Their remains are to this day the wonder 
of the traveller. — Dodw. Trap, vol. ii. p. 248. Clarice's Trav. vol. iii. 
p. 650. From this Licymnius, the Tirynthian acropolis, probably took 
the name of Licymnia, ascribed to it by Strabo (lib. viii. p. 572), as the 
neighbouring town of Midea, now utterly destroyed, was named from 
Midea, his mother, being, as Pausanias tells us (lib. ii. c. 25), the king- 
dom of Alectryon. 

X Lerna, a country bordering on the Argolic gulph, better known for 
its morass or lake, where Hercules destroyed the Hydra. 



ODE VII.l OLYiiriC ODES. 209 

"Where erst with golden shower imperial Jove 

Bedew'd the wondering town j 
What time his brazen axe* stout Vulcan drove, 
And Pallas from the Thunderer's rifted crown 
With outcry loud and long impetuous broke ; 
Heaven shudder'd, and old Earth t with dread maternal 
shook. 

strophe m. 

'Twas then Hyperion's son:}: divine, 

Lamp of the world, his Rhodian line 

In haste enjoin'd with duteous eye 

To watch th' expected prodigy ; 

That first of mortal votaries they 

Their shining altar might display, 
Jove and the Virgin $ of the Thundering Spear 

The first with solemn rites to soothe. 

Precaution thus the paths of Truth 
To Virtue's footstep shows, and cheers her rough career. 

* With brazen axe. The ancients fabled that Minerva issued from 
the head of Jupiter, opened at his request by the axe of Vulcan ; from 
whence Milton has allegorized the birth of Sin. — Par. L. ii. 755. Pau- 
sanias, however, tells us that, according to a Libyan story which had 
reached him, Minerva was the daughter of Neptune and the lake Tri- 
tonis, from whence she derived the title of Tritonia, and her azure eyes. 
— Pans. lib. i. c. 14. Hesiod, however (Theog. 923), and Anacreon (ode 
53) agree with Pindar in affiliating this goddess on the head of Jupiter. 

f Earth. Ovpavbg icai Tola fiaryp in the original. The Earth (the 
Deftm Mater of Lucretius) was, according to Hesiod, Theog. 126-32, 
the mother of Uranus, Heaven, without a father ; there is great force, 
therefore, in the poet's saying that even that son, and the matron 
Earth, who had so singularly produced him, shuddered at the portent of 
Minerva's birth. This passage will remind the reader of Catullus's 
spirited description of the effect of Jupiter's nod (imitated from Homer), 
in his beautiful poem on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. 
His nod divine th' Eternal Ruler gave : 
Earth and the shuddering deep one tremor shares, 
And Heaven, astounded, shook the twinkling spheres. 

t Hyperion is a name for the Sun in Homer and other ancient 
writers : but Hesiod, followed by Pindar, his countryman, in so many 
instances, describes the Sun as the offspring of Hyperion and Theia, and 
Theia as the daughter of Tala, the Earth, by her son Ovpavbg, the 
Heaven. — Theog. 374. Tt is remarkable that the Sun, Apollo, and Hy- 
perion, so frequently identified, are treated as three distinct persons 
throughout this ode. 

§ Jupiter appears, from the fifth antistrophe of this ode, to have been 
P 



210 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VII. 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

Yet oft before the wariest eyes 

Mists of forgetfulness arise, 

And unexpectedly betray 

The wandering purpose from its way. 

'Twas thus, the seeds* of fire forgot, t 

Their high-built shrine the Rhodians sought, 
With unburnt offerings heap'd ; yet showers of gold 

Jove pour'd + upon them from the cloud ; 

And Pallas' self their hands endow'd 
With more than mortal skill her rarest works to mould. 

EPODE III. 

Spread far and wide their various praise : 

In all mysterious crafts they shone, 
Strew'd o'er their walls, their public ways, 

The sculptured life, the breathing stone. § 



worshipped at Rhodes, on the 'mountain Atabyrium ; and Mh»- ra s 
temple at Lindus, said to have been built by Danaiis or his daughters 
{Diod. lib. v. Stra. lib. xiv.), has been already noticed above. 

* Seeds of fire. Thus "ignis semina" and " semina flanimae" in Lu- 
cretius and Virgil, and awipfia irvpbg, Horn. Od. v. 490. 

f This omission in Pagan estimation was of no little moment, fire 
being generally used in all their sacrifices, even on the altars of the 
Furies, as Mr. Blomfield has shown. — Gloss, on JEsch. Agam. 1. 69. 
Our author is supposed by West to have mentioned this circumstance 
to account for a peculiarity in the ceremonies of the Rhodians, who laid 
the victims on their altars first and the fire afterwards. 

X Jove pourd. Heyne observes, that Pindar had probably before his 
eyes Homer's ttXovtov Karsxtve (II. ii. 677), where the same story of 
Tlepolemus is related. 

§ The breathing stone. The original, tpya ZiooTcriv kpTrovrtvcn 6' 
6/xoXa, works that resemble living and moving beings, will remind the 
classical reader of Praxinoe's admiration of the tapestries and pictures 
in Ptolemy's palace at Alexandria. 

What hands, Pallas, work'd the woofs I view ! 
What painter's art such perfect pictures drew ? 
How true they stand, and move, and quite appear 
Alive, not wrought ! — what clever things men are ! 

Theocr. Idyl. xv. 1. S3. 

The poet alludes in this passage to the numerous works of art for 



ODE VII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 211 

'Twas Genius strengthen'd by the toils of Art. 

Yet once, as stories say, 
When Jove Earth's ample field to part 

'Mongst all the gods decreed, the Lord of Day 
Above the waves saw not the Rhodian steep, 
By fate still bound witliin the dungeon of the deep. 

STROPHE IV. 

Absent on function high the lot 

Of the bright Sun his peers forgot ; 

And he the purest of the skies 

Shared not the rich terrestrial prize. 

Warn'd of the wrong, high Jove again 

The partial lots proposed, in vain ; 
" For that mine eye discerns," the Sun replied, 
" A region gathering from the ground, 
" For man's delight all planted round 
" With fruits and pastures fair beneath the foaming tide.'* 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Forthwith commanded he to rise 

The golden-vested Lachesis,'* 

With lifted handf and fatal nod 

To give the sanction of a god, 

Join'd with Saturnian Jove, and swear, 

When time that shoal to heav'n should rear, 

Its realm his boon should be. The pledge divine 
On Truth's unfailing pinion flew ; 
Promise to Consummation grew ; 

Up sprung the beauteous isle and budded from the brine. 

which Ehodes was so distinguished, particularly its enormous statues, 
of which the well-known Colossus, dedicated to the Sun, was the largest, 
heing the brazen figure of a man a hundred and five feet high. It was 
the work of Chares the Lindian, which word Voltaire, mistaking (I pre- 
sume) for L'Indien, has gaily observed, that the Colossus was cast by 
an Indian. — Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. p. 225. 

* Lachesis, one of the three Fates, the daughters of Jupiter and 
Themis.— Hes. Theog. 904. 

t The lifted hand was among the Greeks the accompaniment of a 
solemn oath {Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 251), as the nod was the vehicle 
of divine assent. 

r2 



212 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE Tit 



EPODE IV. 

His blooming lot the genial Sire, 

That frames the pointed beams of day. 
That rules the steeds whose breath is fire, 
Received. There oft with Rhode he lay ; 
Till seven brave sons with matchless wisdom fraught, 

Their fruitful raptures crown'd. 
The first I'alysus begot,* 

And Lindus, and Cameirus : they, their bound 
Paternal into three partitions thrown, 
Each chose his several realm, and named it for his own. 

STROPHE V. 

Tlepolemus,t whose high command 

Once led the brave Tirynthian band, 

There, as a god, due honours knows, 

The rich rewards of all his woes, 

Victims on fuming altars slain, 

Umpires and Games to grace the plain. 
There twice the stout Diagoras was crown'd ; 
Four times from Isthmian ^ lists he bore 
The mantling wreath, and many more 
From Nemea's crowded grove and rough Athense's mound. 

* Ialysus, Lindus, and Cameirus were the three ancient cities of this 
island, of which Lindus, built on the southern coast, opposite Alexandria 
{Stra. lib. xiv. p. 655), long continued, the remains, as Savary says 
(p. 96), being still visible on an eminence near the sea. The inhabitants 
of the other two were transferred to the new city of Rhodes, built on 
the eastern coast of the island, and which became, according to the 
testimony of all writers, the noblest and most magnificent of all the 
cities of the ancient world, celebrated for the beauty of its climate, for 
painting, statuary (which was called the Rhodian art), learning, eloquence, 
commerce, politeness, liberty, and legislation. 

T Tlepolemus, as we learn from the fifth Iliad, 1. 62S, was killed by 
Sarpedon at the Trojan war ; his bones, however, were brought back 
to Rhodes, and sacred rites and games instituted in honour of his 
memory. 

J The Isthmian Games were celebrated in the Isthmus of Corinth, 
near the Temple of Neptune, to the north-east of that city, not far from 
the Saronian gulf, as were the Nemean Games at the town of Nemea, 
situated between Phliuns and Cleonas in the way from Argos to Corinth. 
—Stra. lib. viii. p. 579, 80. 



ODE VII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 213 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

Him Argos with her brazen shield* 

Endow'd ; him fair Arcadia's field ;t 

Him Thebes, and all the heroic games 

Which old Bceotia's custom claims ; 

iEgina him her champion shows ; 

Him six times crown d Pellene knows, 
And Megara's stone, o'erblazon'd with his praise. 
O thou, that rear'st thy temple bleak 
On Atabyriuni's j topmost peak, 
Great Jove, with favour hear our loud triumphal lays. 

EPODE v. 

liaise thou the man, whose arm hath found 

Renown in famed Olympia's vale ; 
Bid citizens his deeds resound, 

Strangers his name with reverence hail. 
Just, like his upright sires, unblamed he walks 

His unpresumptuous way. 
Hide not his race from good Callianax,§ 
His tribe Eratian tell : for him to-day 
The whole state feasts — but in a moment's change 
To every point the gusts of public favour range. 

* Brazen shield. Mr. Dodwell tells us, on the authority of Plutarch 
(Life of Pyrrhus), that the principal of the two citadels at Argos was 
called drnrig, Aspis, a shield, being the place where the 'Hpata, Herosa, 
or Games in honour of Juno, were celebrated, and in which the prize 
was a brazen shield. The Argives were famous for their shields, for 
which reason Virgil compares the eye of Polypheme to an Argolic shield, 
and ^schylus calls them CHnridqcpopog (or a<J7ri8aGTp6<pog) Xethg. — 
Blomf. Agam. 788. 

t Arcadia's field, d'C. There were games celebrated in Arcadia 
racred to the Lycaean Jupiter ; in Thebes, to Iolas and Hercules ; in 
Bceotia, at Oropus, to Amphiaraus, and at Lebadaea to Trophonius ; in 
the island of JEgina. to iEacus ; and the Theoxenia, at Pellene in 
Achaia, in which the prize was a woollen garment. — See Olymp. ode ix. 
antistro. iv. In all these Diagoras had been victorious, and so fre- 
quently so at Megara, that the pillar of stone, on which the names and 
exploits of the victors were inscribed, was filled with the accounts of his 
successes. 

t Atahyrium, the highest mountain in Ehodes, situated towards its 
southern extremit} r , on the top of which stood Jupiter's temple ; not 
far, therefore, from the Lindian temple of Minerva. 

§ Callianax. The Scholiast tells us, that Callianax was the grand- 



214 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VIIL 



ODE VIIL 

TO ALCIMEDON AND TIMOSTHENES HIS BROTHER, 

Victors among the Youths in Wrestling, the former at the 
Olympic, the latter at the Nemean Games. 



STROPHE I. 

Olympia, mother of the Games, 
Where Worth his golden chaplet claims ; 
Mistress of Truth ;* whose fate-exploring Priest 
From the slain victim t learns, if highest Jove, 
Whose hand the dazzling thunder throws, 
Views with regard the dauntless breast, 
That, fired with Virtue's noblest love, 
Pants but for Fame and Victory's sweet repose. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Such blazon gracious Heaven allows 
To prophets' pure and pious vows. 
But thou, Pissean Grove, whose branches wave 
O'er Alpheus' stream, accept the wreaths I bear, 
Triumphal strains. A deathless name 

Thy glorious guerdon gives the brave. 
Not all the same distinctions share : 
Various the paths divine, that lead to fame. 



father of Diagoras, whose earlier ancestor Eratides gave its name to the 
tribe mentioned by the poet. 

* Mistress of Truth. This alludes to the Prophecies of the Priest, 
descended from Iiimus, who presided at the great altar of Jupiter. — See 
Olymp. ode vi. stro. 1. 

f The slain victim. The heart, liver, and other intestines of the 
victim, according to their soundness or unsoundness, supplied the priest 
or augur with the means of divination. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 315. It 
should seem from this passage that they were consulted by the Athletes 
prior to the contest as to their prospects of success. 



ODE YIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 215 



EPODE I. 

You, valiant youths, kind Destiny consign'd 
To Jove your natal genius : he thy name, 
Timosthenes,* proclaimed in Nemea's Game, 

While Pisa's wreaths Alcimedon entwined : 
Of beauty's manliest mould was he ; 

Nor fail'd his act the warrant of his face ; 
Crown'd with the Wrestler's victory 

^Egina's isle t he named his native place : 
Where all to Themis J bow, that sits above, 
Saviour at once and judge, by Hospitable Jove, 

STROPHE II. 

No where so reverenced. Hard it is 
Where interests clash and contests rise 
To meet th' occasion, yet with judgment pure 
The scales of right sustain. By Heav'n's decree 
That sea-girt isle thus proudly stands 

(Still strengthening Time its weal secure), 
Like some blest column in the sea, 
T' invite and guide all strangers from all lands ; § 

* Timosthenes. There was another champion of this name, an Elean, 
who was victor among the youths at Olympia, where his statue re- 
mained in the days of Pausanias, lib. vi. c. 2. The poet represents 
Jupiter to be their tutelary genius, being the god to whom the Nemean 
as well as the Olympic Games were dedicated. — See Nemean, ode ii. 
stro. 1. 

+ jEginds isle, ./Egina is a well-known island in the Saronian gulf 
between Argolis and Attica, formerly called JEnone, and said to have 
been the birth-place and kingdom of iEacus, the grandfather of Achilles, 
distinguished for its naval power at the time of the Persian war, and 
being from its great commercial prosperity a place of general resort. — 
See Mr. Dodwell's account of it, Trav. vol. i. p. 558, et seq. 

J Themis, the mother of Justice according to Hesiod (Tkeog. 135f ? 
was the daughter of the Earth and Heaven. iEschylus, however, tells 
us that Themis and the Earth were but two names for the same deity. — 
Prom. 218. There was a temple dedicated to her at Thebes (Pans. 
lib. ix. c. 15), which may be the reason why she is so often mentioned 
by Pindar. 

§ The English reader will feel how aptly this passage may be applied 
to his own country, particularly during the French revolution. 



216 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE Till. 



AXTISTROPHE II. 

Still ruling with her Dorian line 
The realm of ^Eacus # divine : 
"Whom fair Latona's son with Neptune paird, 
Toiling round Troy to rear the towering wall, 
Leagued in hee work : her fatal hour 
By that portentous choice declared, 
That her proud domes in fight should fall. 
And hostile fires her smouldering fanes devour. 

EPODE II. 

Scarce perfect was the pile, when up the tower 
Three azure serpents leapt ; and from the side 
Two, as with horror thrill'd, recoil'd and died : 
Yelling the third rush'd on with gather'd power — 

The portent strange Apollo views, 
And pondering briefly thus : " Devoted Troy, 

" Thy help, ill-omen'd Hero, rues ; 
'•' Thy mortal work her empire shall destroy : 
u Yet not without thy sons ; f for 'tis decreed 
" The first and fourth of thine must mingle in that deed '. 

STROPHE III. 

" Thus Saturn's seed, the thundering Jove 
" In vision shows me from above." 

* Homer in the 21st Iliad (1. 442, et seq.) tells us, that Neptune and 
Apollo (not naming iEacus) built the walls of Troy for a reward to be 
paid to them by its king Laomedon at the expiration of the year : that 
the service was performed ; but that, on the gods applying for their 
wages, the perjured monarch threatened Apollo with chains and trans- 
portation, and both of them with the loss of ears, if they repeated the 
demand. From hence we have " Laomedontese perjuria Trojae " (Georg. 
lib. i. 502), and for the walls of Troy, "moenia Phcebi " (Ovid. Penel. 
Ulyss. 67), and "Neptunia Troja " (^En. lib. iii. 1. 3). 

f Yet not without thy sons. In the original it is ovk area TraLcojv 
n'cQtv' a\\' a\ia Trpuiroic ap&Tai icai rarpdroic, i. e. "but it shall begin 
(and be completed) by the first and foicrth." This, as the commentators 
say, means that Peleus and Telamon, being the sons of iEacus, who 
fought with Hercules against Laomedon, should begin the destruction of 
Trov, and that Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles the son of Peleus, should 
complete it ; the word first being used exclusively, and the word fourth 
inclusively of ^Eacus ; for if JEacua were excluded, Pyrrhus would not 
be ihefoxirth, but the third. 



ODE VIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 217 

That warning given, Xanthus* in haste he reach'd, 
The mounted Amazons f and Ister's stream £ 
Survey'd. Tow'rds Isthmus by the main 
As swift the Trident-bearer stretch'd ; 
But first he stay'd his golden team, 
While iEacus regain'd ^Egina's plain. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Thence o'er proud Corinth, to inspect 
Her glorious Feast, § his chariot check'd. 
Not all with equal favour all things see : 
His beardless rivals conquer'd should my string 
Sound for Meilesias,|| Envy's hand 

Fling not the pointed stone IF at me ; 
For I his Nemean Feats will sing, 
And rough Pancratian fray with men maintain'd. 

* Xanthus, a river called, as Homer says, by men Scamander, and 
flowing near Troy into the Hellespont. 

+ Amazons. The Amazons were a real or imaginary nation of martial 
women, who lived near the river Thermodon, in Cappadocia. Why 
Apollo visited them, is not explained (possibly he was worshipped 
there) ; still less how he came to take them in his way from Xanthus 
to the Danube. 

Z Ister's stream. Apollo's visit to the Ister (Danube) was no doubt to 
see the Hyperboreans. What connection there was in Pindar's mind 
between these descendants of iEacus, Apollo, and the Hyperboreans, 
does not appear. They are, however, singularly combined in a story in 
Pausanias (lib. i. c. 4) ; who informs us, that, when the Gauls attacked 
the Phocians, meditating the plunder of the Delphic Temple of Apollo, 
the figures of Pyrrhus the son of Achilles and of two Hyperboreans, 
called Hyperochus and Amadocus, appeared in full armour in the battle 
for the Phocians, and struck the greatest terror into the invading army : 
after which the tomb of Pyrrhus, before held in dishonour, was hallowed 
by the Delphians. 

§ Her glorious feast. What particular festival is here alluded to, I do 
not find. We know that the Isthmian Games were sacred to Neptune, 
who had a temple near the Stadium in the Isthmus, which Pausanias 
(lib. ii. cc. 1, 2) describes ; and the site of which was discovered by 
Dr. Clarke.— CI. Trav. vol. iii. p. 752. 

|| Meilesias, a celebrated trainer and teacher of the Athletes, by 
whom Alcimedon and Timosthenes were prepared and disciplined, 
and who appears by this passage to have been himself a victor in the 
Games. 

% Her pointed stone. This expression may possibly allude to a practice 
among the Greeks, of throwing a stone at anything which they deemed 
ill-ominous, and thereby defeating its effect. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 346. 



2 IS OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE VIII. 



EPODE III. 

With, ease from Wisdom's lips instruction flows ; 

Which unprepared fools only will dispense ; 

For weak 's the wit of Inexperience. 
Perfect beyond his peers Meilesias knows 

Th' Athletic discipline and plan, 
That, when the Game shall rouse him to the fray, 

Harden and frame the practised man, 
To bear th' adored and dangerous prize away. 
To-day his boast Alcimedon must be, 
The thirtieth youth his art hath train'd for victory. 

STEOPHE IV. 

He with the smiles of Fortune bright, 
]STor wanting valour's manliest might, 
Hath to four hapless youths* victorious doom'd 
Th' hateful return, the path obscure, the tale 
Of shame ; and in his grandsire's heart 

Youth's long-extinguish'd lamp relumed : 
When Glory's cheering beams prevail, 
Old age revives, and death forgets his dart. 

AXTISTROPHE IV. 

Now let the loud-recording lay 
Awaken Memory to display 
What feats, what triumphs in the manual war 
The Blepsian t tribe achieved — Gain'd from the Games 
On their proud busts six chaplets bloom. 

Their kindred's rite the dead shall share ; 
Its praise departed Virtue claims : 
The trump of Glory echoes in the tomb4 

So hei*e, as I conceive, the poet means, " may not Envy defeat the effec'; 
of my commendation." The blasting properties of Envy are perpetual! .- 
noticed by the Latin poets. 

* Neither the names of Alcimedon's four unsuccessful rivals nor, of 
his grandfather, are preserved. A similar account of the infamy of 
defeat occurs in the Pytk. ode viii. stro. v. 

t The Blepsian tribe, a tribe in JEgina,, to which Alcimedon 
belonged. 

J The reader will not doubt that Gray, so well acquainted with 
Pindar, had this passage on his mind when he wrote the following : — 



ODE VIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 219 



EPODE IV. 

From Fame, the child of Hermes,* Iphion 
Heard ere he died, and shall delighted tell 
Callimachus th' Olympian Crown that fell 
By Jove's good gift to Ins distinguish'd son. 

Still may the god his blessings shower 
On their fair deeds, and chase disease away ; 

Nor Nemesis t send with vengeful power 
To thwart the promise of their prosperous day. 
Grant them long life, to Fortune's ills unknown, 
Their country's weal enhance, and crown it with their own. 

On some kind breast the parting soul relies ; 

Some pious drops the closing eye requires ; 
E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries ; 
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. 

* Mercury being the ayytXog or Messenger of the Gods, according 
to the mythology of the ancients, our poet here personifies dyytkia 
(which signifies a message, tiding, or report), and calls her the daughter 
of Mercury. Heyne supposes that Iphion died after he had received 
from Olympia the message or tidings of Alcimedon's victory, and that 
Pindar therefore suggested that he would tell it to Callimachus. Who 
these two persons were, or how related to Alcimedon, we are not 
informed ; some suppose that Iphion was his father, and Callimachus his 
uncle ; the reverse of which appears to me to be the more likely. That 
Alcimedon's father was not alive, we may collect from the fourth strophe, 
where the grandfather's (not the father's) joy at the victory is described. 
I conceive, therefore, that Callimachus was the father, and Iphion the 
uncle ; that the former died before the victory, and the latter between 
the dates of the victory and the ode ; which being so, I see much beauty 
and spirit in supposing, that the uncle, having heard the tidings, would 
communicate them in the shades below to the father of the victor. 
When it is recollected, that it was Mercury's office, not only to conduct 
the souls of mortals to the shades, but also to superintend and influence 
the Games (see Olymp. ode vi. ep. v. and Pyih. ode ii. antistro. i.) and 
therefore to be the author of the tidings or reports of victor}^, circum- 
stances familiar to the Greek reader, we can judge of the effect and 
beauty of this little allegory. Fame is not quite the word, but I cannot 
find a better for dyytkia ; a difficulty which the other translators have 
experienced. 

f Nemesis. The commentators do not tell us, why Jupiter is here 
requested not to send Nemesis to annoy them. Nemesis was the Goddess 
of Revenge, and of all the gods the most inexorable towards the in- 
solent, j} Seiov /jLaXicrra dvOpio-aoig vSpicrralg i&riv cnraoaiT^TOQ (Pans. 
lib. i. c. 33) ; and therefore Phidias, after the battle of Marathon, 
converted into a statue of this goddess a block of Parian marble, which 



220 



OLYMPIC ODES. 



[ode IX. 



ODE IX. 

TO EPHA11MOSTUS, THE OPUNTIAX, 

Victor in the Game of Wr> 



STROPHE I. 

Archilochus'* resounding strain 
The victor's ancient lay,t thrice chanted loud, 

Sufficed along th' Olympian plain 
By Cronium's mount J to lead th' exulting crowd, 

The friends by Epharmostus' side 

That swell'd the full triumphal tide.§ 

the Persians, despising the Athenians, had presumptuously brought into 
the field, to be the monument of their anticipated victory. It seems 
probable, therefore, that Pindar meant to caution the two youthful 
conqiierors against the insolence of success. 

* Archilochus was a Greek poet of the island of Paros, in the iEgean 
sea, particularly celebrated for his verses in the Iambic measure (which 
he is said by some to have invented), and for the acrimony of his muse. 
— See Pyth. ode ii. stro. iv. He is said to have satirized Lycambes, 
who had refused to give him his daughter in marriage, with such 
severity, that he hanged himself. He flourished about three hundred 
years before Pindar, and was skilled in the art of singing to the lyre, as 
Theocritus informs us : — 

Such melody was his and ready skill 

To frame sweet verse, and chant it to his lyre. — Epig. 19. 

T The victor's ancient lay. This old lay was written by Archilochus in 
praise of Hercules, and afterwards used as a sort of stock song in 
honour of the Olympic victors. It was called the Callinicus, that 
being the first word of it, signifying "the illustrious conqueror," and 
consisted, as the old Scholiast tells us, of three strophes or stanzas ; for 
which reason Pindar is supposed, by some, to have called it TpiyrXooc, 
triple ; but as it is said also to have been three times sung for each 
victor, once immediately after the victory, again in the Gymnasium, 
and a third time on his return to his own country, I have translated it 
accordingly. 

J Cronium's mount, a hill by Olympia. — See Olymp. ode i. ep. iv. 

§ Triumphal tide. The phrase in the original, which I have para- 
phrased in these lines (for we have no corresponding word), is Kiofid'Covn, 
which signifies " advancing triumphantly in choral procession." On 
these occasions the chorus sung the ode, accompanied with a band using 
some step, probably measuring the time and suited to the nature of the 
melody. For in the 14th Olympic Ode, stro. ii., tuned, as the poet tells 



ODE IX.] OLYMPIC ODES. 221 

But from the distant-dealing bow 
To-day 'tis thine the shaft to throw/' 1 * 
The Muse's shaft, that mounts above 
E'en to the purple-bolted Jove 

And Elis' sacred Promontory; 
Whose realm, (Enomaiis' power o'erthrown, 
Pelopsf the Lydian hero won, . 

Hippodamia's fairest dowry. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Send now thy sweet, thy winged reed, 
At Pytho's field : J the bard, whose thrilling string 

Resounds the manly wrestler's deed 
From glorious Opus,§ stoops not on the wing,|| 

No vulgar flight pursues, the praise 

Of Opus and her son to raise : 

Where Themis and her child sedate, 

Eunomia, IT famed, preserve the state. 

\is, to the Lydian mood, the festive step is given to the kuj/xoq, or chorus, 
in procession. Tryphiodorus uses this word with great beauty and 
effect in his description of the Trojans ignorantly leading the Trojan 
Horse into the town in triumph. 

Through Trojan choirs the mortal mischief won 
Her easy way in triumph to the town. — Tryjph. 312. 

* Tlie shaft to throw. Here, as in the Olympic ode ii. strophe v. 
and other passages, the song issuing from the poet is likened to the 
arrow from the bow. 

+ Pelops. For the story of Pelops and Hippodamia, see Olymp. 
ode i. 

X Pytho's field. Epharmostus had also conquered at the Pythian 
Games. 

§ Opus was the capital of the Opuntian Locrians, who were con- 
terminous to Boeotia and Phocis. — Str. lib. ix. p. 638. 

|| Stoops not on the wing. The original x a l jLaL7reT ^< t)V is generally used 
by Pindar to signify anything done in vain, or falling to the ground, 
and so Heyne interprets it in this instance ; I have, however, preferred, 
the sense of "humble," following Benedict and Mr. Blomfield. — See 
his jEsch. Agam. 1. 893, Gloss. 

*i\ Eunomia. Themis and Jupiter were the parents of the Hours 
f'Qpai) Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene, *. e. Law, Justice, and Peace. — See 
Olymp. ode xiii. stro i. ep. i. Hesiod has shown us why they were 
called iopai. 

A'i t' toy' tjpaiovfft KaTaOvnroZffi (3poToT<n. — Tlieog. 902. 
That perfect all the works of mortal men. 

It is in this sense, that they represent the seasons and the hours. 



222 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE IX. 

On Alpheus' banks her glories gleam 
And bloom by pure Castalia's stream ; 

From whence by minstrels pluck'd the flower.- 
Of all their blended chaplets grace 
The mother of the Locrian race," 

Midst her deep woods and waving bowers. 

EPODE I. 

Thus while her favour'd City glows 
With the full radiance of my lay, 

Swifter than generous steed, or bark that throws 
Her swelling wings along the watery way, 
I'll spread the tale through every land, 
If bless'd by Heav'n tins tuneful hand 
Cultures the Graces' choicest field : 
For they all mortal transports yield, 
And wit and valour wait on their divine command. 

STROPHE II. 

By them inspired Alcidesf dared 
With club terrestrial brave the Trident's might ; 

What time the Pylian towers to guard 
Neptune his rage withstood. The Lord of Light 

Advanced his silver-sounding bow, 

And warr'd against th' heroic foe. 

Nor e'en in Hades' rueful hand 

Unbrandish'd hung th' infernal wand, 

Wherewith men's mortal forms are led 

To th' hollow city of the dead — £ 

* The mother of the Locrian race, meaning the city of Opus. 

t Alcides, a well-known name of Hercules ; of whom there was a 
brazen statue at Olympia, ten cubits high, with a club in his right 
hand, and a bow in his left (Paus. lib. v. c. 25), both of which he 
appears to have used in his attack on Pyhis, a city of El is, when Neptune 
and Pluto (Hades) came to its assistance ; and where the latter, accord- 
ing to Homer (II. v. 395), as quoted and interpreted by Pausanias, was 
wounded by the arrows of that hero : for which service a temple was 
erected to Pluto by the Eleans. — Paus. lib. vi. c. 25. The Scholiast, 
however, Benedict, and Heyne think, that the battle between Hercules 
and Pluto, here alluded to by Pindar, and by Homer, was not Iv Hv\<;>, 
at Pylus, but iv Trv\q) iv vikuiggi, at the gates of Hell, when Hercules 
was dragging off Cerberus. 

X The office of conveying with a rod (pa£ct>)) the souls of men to the 






ODE IX.] OLYMPIC ODES. 223 

Renounce, my lips, the verse profane ! 
'Tis hateful wit at gods to rail : 
Vain -glory's impious ill-timed tale 

Sounds but of Phrenzy's thoughtless strain. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Babble no more of themes like these, 
Nor mix with fabled war th' immortal Powers : 

Sing rather thou with blameless lays 
Protogeneia's* ancient towers ; 

Where by Jove's hest in thunder heard 

Man's first abode Deucalion rear'd, 

Wh3n from Parnassus' glittering crown t 

With Pyrrhaj: pair'd the Seer came down. 

Behind them rose their unborn sons, 

The new-named laity of stones, 

shades below is usually assigned to Mercury. — Horn. II. xxiv. 1. 343. 
I am not aware of any other author, who has given it to Pluto ; or who 
has supposed that men's bodies are transmitted thither : Lucretius, 
indeed, tells us, on the authority of Ennius, that it is neither the souls 
nor bodies, but certain shadows and similitudes of mortals. 

Yet Ennius tells us in eternal strains 

Of temples dark and Acherusian plains ; 

Where neither souls nor mortal forms are seen, 

But pallid shades and semblances of men. — Zucr. lib. i. 
* Protogeneia, according to Pausanias, was the daughter of Deucalion 
and the mother of Opus, whose name was given to the Locrian metro- 
polis : but Pindar considers Opus as her father. 

f Parnassus, the poetical haunt of Apollo and the Muses, is a 
mountainous ridge, which anciently separated the Opuntian from the 
"Western Locrians, as it now does the districts of Livadia and Salona. 
It is covered with snow, at least for the greatest part of the year. 
Dr. Clarke, who gives us a drawing of it, and other modern travellers, 
assert that it is not bicipitous ; but that the poets, who beheld it from 
Castalia, have probably mistaken two lofty crags, separated by the 
chasm from which that spring issues, for the summits of the mountain. — 
Clarke's Trav. vol. iv. p. 172. Hob. Alb. vol. i. p. 251. 

% Deucalion and Pyrrha, as Ovid tells us {Metam. lib', i. 1. 400), being 
saved on Parnassus, from the flood, consulted the Oracle of Themis upon 
the regeneration of mankind ; and by her advice threw stones behind 
them, which were immediately animated into men and women. Hence 
our author derives \abg, the Greek word for people, from Xrrac, a stone ; 
an etymological paronomasia, which Ovid, and even .Virgil, calling men 
a hardened race, durum genus, have not disdained to imitate. — Metam. 
lib. i. 1. 414. Georg. lib. i. v. 65. 



224 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE IX. 

A homogeneous mortal throng : 
For them thy sounding numbers raise, 
Nor, when old wine* inflames thy praise, 

Forget the flowers of modern song. 

EPODE II. 

Then, as they tell, a deluge raged 
O'er the sunk Earth's opacons plain : 

Till Jove's rebuke the wasteful waves assuaged, 
And pent them in their oozy gulf again. 
Sprung from that aged ancestor 
Your brazen-buckler'd sires of yore, 

(Blood, that from old lapetus runs 
And dames t that mix'd with Saturn's sons) 
A line of genuine kings their native sceptre bore ; 

* Old wine. This seems to be an allusion to the praise bestowed upon 
old wine by the father of the poets, who is thought to have written 
zealously upon this subject. 

There stood the casks of old delicious wine, 

That held within the unmingled draught divine. — Odyss. ii. 1. 341. 
And, therefore, our author puts in his claim of praise for modern 
(i. e. his own) poetry, while he joins the ancient Bard in the commenda- 
tion of old wine. The union of wine and flowers in this passage 
(though perhaps an involuntary association) was probably suggested to 
the poet by the practice which the ancients had, of crowning their 
wine-vessels and themselves with garlands at the convivial table. See 
Whiter 's Specimen of a Commentary on Shdkspeare ; where this principle 
of association is skilfully illustrated. 

+ Dames that mixed, &c. Heyne endeavours to explain this difficult 
passage by supposing that Pindar had some legend of a line of Locrian 
kings before Deucalion, who were sprung from Jupiter and a female 
descendant of lapetus. But if this were so, then Deucalion would have 
been a Locrian king ; whereas it is clear from the conclusion of the 
following strophe, that Pindar considers Opus as the founder or first 
king of the Locrian city and state. The difficulty, however, will be 
removed by following the old Scholiast (not always the safest guide), 
who interprets Kopav not filiarum, daughters, but amasiarum, mistresses 
(see Pyth. ode iii. ep. ii.), and supposes the plural to have been used for 
the singular, so that the mistresses of Saturn's most potent sons means 
the mistress of Saturn's most potent son, i. e. Protogeneia and Jupiter, 
whose story is related in the next strophe. In this way it will appear 
that the Locrian kings were descended from lapetus through Pro- 
togeneia (the daughter of Deucalion, the grandson of lapetus), and of 
course from the mistress of Jupiter, which Protogeneia was. The word 
Trpiv, which begins the strophe, must of course be construed not ante- 
quam, but antea, or, as we say, "once upon a time," heretofore. 



ODE IX.] OLYMPIC ODES. 225 



STROPHE III. 

E'er since th' Olympian * Leader's love 
Snatcli'd Opus' daughter from th' Epeian plain 

To dark Msenalia'st conscious grove, 
And gave her back to Locrus' arms again ; 

Lest age, that hastes our mortal doom, 

Should bear him childless to the tomb. 

By that celestial Power compress'd 

A nobler birth the matron bless'd. 

The good old Hero hails beguiled 

And doats upon th' imputed child ; 

And gives him, as his years display 

Youth's comeliest form and manhood's fire, 

The name, that graced his mother's sire, 
To boast, a peopled realm to sway. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Strangers unnumber'd round his throne, 
Argives, and Thebans, and Arcadians press'd, 

Pisatians too ; but Actor's son 
Mensetius most his high regard caress'd, 

Patroclus' sire : on Mysia's plain 

He with th' Atridae leagued in vain, 

When Telephus^ the Grecian throng 

Back on their barks disorder'd flung, 

Benedict's paraphrase, and the translations both of Schmidius and 
Sudorius agree in this interpretation. 

* The Olympian Leader. I have thus literally translated 'OXvfnriog 
ayepihv; the pious iEneas, we remember, is called Dux Trojanus on a 
similar occasion. 

t Mcenalia's, <kc, the region of Mount Maenalus, in Arcadia, not far 
from the Epeian, an old name for the Eleian territory. 

t Telephus, an Arcadian by birth, was the spurious son of Hercules 
and Auge, the daughter of Aleus. Eeing afterwards adopted by Teu- 
thras, king of Mysia, he succeeded to his throne, and married one of 
Priam's daughters. The Grecians, on their expedition against Troy, 
having landed by mistake upon the Mysian coast, the battle happened 
on the banks of the Ca'icus, to which the poet here alludes, and which 
was represented in sculpture on the back tympanum of the splendid 

Q 



226 OLYMPIC ODES. [ode IX. 

Alone with great Achilles stay'd : 
Heroes his act with shouts survey'd : 

And Thetis' son, his brave compeer 
Implored him from that glorious clay 
No more to meet the martial fray 

Apart from Ms all-conquering spear. 

EPODE III. 

O ! for a spirit* that could bid 
New words and quickening thoughts to rise, 

Of skill the Muse's daring car to guide 
In all the might of genius through the skies ! 
Then would I come with glory's bay, 
While Fame and Friendship fired my lay, 

To grace the brothers' Isthmian crown, 
The prize Lampromachus t had won, 
The twin achievement proud of one victorious day. 



Temple of Minerva Alea, at Tegea in Arcadia, built by Scopas, the 
celebrated Parian statuary, on the site of a former one, which Aleus had 
erected to that goddess. It surpassed all the temples in the Pelopon- 
nese, both in magnitude and decoration, having the Doric order of 
columns (within, as it should seem), surmounted by the Corinthian, and 
without a row of the Ionic. — Paus. lib. viii. c. 45. Large masses of the 
Doric still remain, according to the testimony of Mr. Dodwell. 

* Spenser appears to have had this passage in his mind when he 
wrote the following lines, which the reader will forgive me for insert- 
ing :— 

"Who now shall give unto me words and sound 

Equal unto this haughty enterprise ? 
Or who shall lend me wings, with which from ground 
My lowly verse may loftily arise, 
And lift itself unto the highest skies ? 

Fa. Qu. b. ii. c. 10, sta. 1. 

t The Scholiast says, that Epharmostus and Lampromachus were kins- 
men, ovyytvtiQ ; Heyne says, "or brothers," which is rather more con- 
sistent with the manner in which the poet introduces Lampromachus. 
It seems probable that the two victories were obtained at the Isthmian 
Games, it being very unlikely that the Isthmian and Olympic Games, as 
Mr. Pye justly observes, should have been held on the same day. 



ODE IX.] OLYMPIC ODES. 227 



STROPHE IV. 

Where Corinth's portal* parts the main 
Two triumphs more brave Epharmostus gain'd ; 

Others on Nemea's shelter'd plain : t 
He from th' Athenian youths $ the prize obtain'd ; 
From men th' Argolic shield § he won : 
Oh ! what a strife at Marathon, || 
With beardless foes no longer pair'd, 
'Gainst sturdier age the stripling dared ! 
Himself unfoil'd with dexterous bound 
He writhed and whirl'd them to the ground. 

Graced with the goblet's silver meed 
What shouts, what plaudits from the throng 
Cheer'd, as the champion stalk'd along, 
His manly port, his manlier deed. 



* Corinth's portal. This expression is particularly applicable to 
Corinth, being the entrance or gate of the Peloponnese ; it is also in the 
isthmus between the Corinthian and Saronian gulfs, for which reason 
it is called, in the Olymp. ode xiii. stro. i., 'la9[iiov rrpoQvpov Hoatida- 
voq, the portal of Isthmian Neptune. It is here mentioned figuratively 
for the Isthmian Games. 

f Nemea's sheltered plain. At the Nemean Games> celebrated at 
Nemea, between Argos and Corinth. 

X Athenian youths. This victory was gained over the youths under 
age at the Panathenaic Feast at Athens, of which more will be said on 
Pyth. ode ix. ep. iv. 

§ Th' Argolic shield. There was a game at the celebration of the 
'Hpala, or Feast of Juno at Argos, which consisted in pulling down a 
shield strongly fixed to the theatre, for which the prize was a brazen 
shield. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 397. 

|| A t Marathon. The Scholiast tells us, that this victory in the 
wrestling game was gained at the 'HpaicXaa, or Feast of Hercules, 
celebrated at Marathon by the Athenians, the prize being a silver 
goblet. This amusement still continues in Greece, as the reader will 
find by referring to Dr. Clarke's description of a wrestling-match which 
he saw at Nauplia, and where the competitors were oiled and dusted 
after the ancient manner. — CI. Trav. vol. iii. p. 341. 



<j2 



228 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE IX. 



ANTISTROPHE IV. 

At Jove's Lycaean Feast* the whole 
Parrhasian host marvlling his might survey 'd ; 

Marvell'd Pellene,t when the Stole, 
"Winter's warm antidote, his bulk display'd. 

Witness the tomb, where Thebans grace 

The Games of godlike Iolas ; % 

Witness Eleusis' § wave-born strand 

The toils and triumphs of his hand. 

* Jove's Lyccean Feast. These games, at which the conqueror was 
rewarded with a suit of brazen armour, were celebrated at Parrhasia, a 
city of Arcadia, near Mount Lycaeum, on the top of which there was an 
altar, with golden eagles, and two columns facing the east, sacred to 
Lycaean Jupiter, and a commanding view of the whole Peloponnesus. — 
Stra. lib. v. p. 595 ; Paus. lib. viii. c. 28. A mound of earth, probably 
that mentioned by Pausanias as the site of the Lycaean altar, as well as 
some ancient blocks of hewn stone, were observed by Mr. Dodwell on 
one of the highest summits of this mountain. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 
p. 393. 

t Pellend. The games celebrated at Pellene were the "Hpaia, in 
honour of Juno, at which a rich stole or garment was the prize, ac- 
cording to the Scholiast on Aristophanes, 'Op v. pp. 6 and 7, and Pott. 
Antiq. vol. i. p. 398. Although Benedict, in his Paraphrase, says, that 
it was at the Theoxenia, the feast of Apollo. 

% Iblas or Iolaiis was the son of Iphicles the brother of Hercules, 
whom he is said to have assisted in most of his labours. — Paus. lib. viii. 
c. 45. He was in high estimation among the Greeks, and of course 
with Pindar, who never fails to exalt his country. An altar was 
dedicated to him jointly with Alcmena in the temple of Hercules 
called Cynosarges at Athens. Near the Praetian Gate at Thebes a 
stadium and gymnasium were named after him ; and an heroic monu- 
ment, of which no remains are left, was shown to Pausanias as his, 
although the Thebans admitted that he died in Sardinia. To this 
monument (probably a cenotaph), Pindar here alludes and to the games, 
which were the horse race, wrestling, and the Pentathlon, celebrated 
there in his time in honour of this hero. — Paus. lib. i. c. 19 ; lib. viiL 
c. 14 ; lib. ix. c. 23. 

§ Eleusis, a city of Attica, between Athens and Corinth, where the 
rites of Ceres, called the Eleusinian Mysteries, were celebrated. The 
goddess had a temple there and a mystic cell, (rrjicbg, built after Pindar's 
time by Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon, equal in capacity to a 
large theatre. — Strab. lib. ix. p. 605. The mysteries were solemnized by 
the Athenians every fifth year, and lasted nine days, the games being 
held on the seventh, and the victor rewarded with a measure of barley, 
that grain having been first sown at Eleusis. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. 
p. 393. 



i 



ODE X.] OLYMPIC ODES. 229 

From Nature * all perfections flow : 
And though from task'd attention slow 

Taught excellence will sometimes strain 
And struggle to renown ; if Heav'n 
Has not th' inspiring impulse given, 

'Tis silence best rewards the pain. 

EPODE IV. 

Life's walks are various : one concern 
The crowded world can ne'er sustain : 

To Fame's high path the steps of Genius turn. 
Thy gift aloud proclaim ; in daring strain 
Tell, how of birth propitious sprung 
Th' Oilean Gamest robust and young 

With dexterous arm and dauntless eye 
Thy champion braved, and Victory 
With all his glorious wreaths the shrine of Ajax hung. 



ODE X. 

TO AGESIDAMUS, OF LOCRIS EPIZEPHYRIA, 

Victorious in the Game of Boxing. 

STROPHE I. 

Where stands Archestratus' triumphant son, 
Th' Olympic victor, % written on my mind ? 
My promise of sweet song for him design'd 

Had from my faithless memory flown. 

* From Nattire, &c. This is a favourite r sentiment with our poet. 
(See Olymp. ode ii. stro. v.) Horace, as we know, thought that poetical 
excellence depended as much on study as on talent. It is probable that 
each of these distinguished writers took his model from himself. 

T T/i' Oilcan Games. These were celebrated at Opus in honour of 
Ajax the son of O'ileus, who led the Locrians with forty vessels' to the 
Trojan war. — 11. ii. 1. 527. The games in honour of Ajax, the son of 
Telamon, were at Salamis. — Hescyh. on the word AlavTtlov. 

X Tk' Olympic victor. This victory was gained in the 84th Olympiad ; 



230 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE 

But thou, Muse, from whom no treachery springs, 
And Truth, fair daughter of high Jove, 
Lend me your upright efforts to remove 

The slur that Slander on mine honour flings. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

'Tis true the distant dilatory day 
Hath brought to shame the debtor and the debt : 
With amplest usury he'll discharge it yet, 

And melt the keen reproach away. 
Mark how the strong wave, as it sweeps along, 

Rolls the wash'd pebble from the shore ; 

Mark how th' arrear shall vanish as we pour 
Friendship's full tribute, our historic song. 

EPODE I. 

For Truth with the Zephyrian Locrians * dwells : 

They love th' heroic Muse and martial field. 
Cycnus + with onset fierce, as story tells, 

Th' o'erpowering might of Hercules repell'd. 
As by Achilles roused Patroclus X stood ; 

So to stout Has on th' Olympian sand 
The boxer's palm Agesidamus owed. 

Oft hath the cheering friend, when Nature's hand 
Has touch'd the warrior's heart with Virtue's flame, 
Gigantic deeds inspired, and Heav'n confirm'd his fame. 



it appears, however, that this ode was not written till long after, a 
delay which had been imputed to Pindar as an intentional breach of 
promise. 

* The Zephyrian Locrians. The Zephyrian or Epizephyrian Locrians 
inhabited the country to the westward of Parnassus, as the Epicnemidian 
and Opuntian did that on the eastern side of the same range, and bore 
engraved upon their public seal the figure of Hesperus or the evening 
star (JStra. lib. ix. p. 638), which Mr. Dodwell also noticed on many of 
their coins. — Dodw. Trav. vol. i. p. 154. 

+ Cycnus. This was the son of Mars ; the Cycnus conquered by 
Achilles was the son of Neptune. Hercules at the beginning of the 
contest with Cycnus, who was assisted by Mars, fled from him, but after- 
wards engaged and slew him. 

X Patroclus. This is said to have happened at the time when Tele- 
phus repulsed the Greeks on their landing in Mysia. — Olymp. ode ix. 
antistro. iii. 



ODE X.] OLYMPIC ODES. 231 



STROPHE II. 

Conquests by toil unearn'd to few belong : 
Action's the sovereign good, the light of life. 
But me Jove's Hallow'd Rites the athletic strife 

And matchless Games in solemn song 
Bid blazon ; which the potent Hercules 
Stablish'd by Pelops' ancient tomb ; 
What time the godlike Cteatus* to his doom 
He sent, though sprung from him that rules the seas, 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Him with bold Eurytus, the largess due 
Thus from reluctant Augeas to compel. 
Them on their journey in Cleonse'st dell 

Th' avenging chief from ambush slew. 
Just retribution ! his Tirynthian host, f 

Surprised in Elis' close defiles, 

Moliond's o'erweening sons by wiles 
Had crush'd ; and all his choicest chiefs § were lost. 

* Cteatus and Eurytus were the sons of Molione and Neptune, and 
are accordingly introduced by Spenser as marine guests at the marriage 
of the Thames and Medway. — Fa. Qu. b. iv. c. 11, st. 14. The story 
of their death is this : — Augeas, king of the Epeans or Eleans, who was 
immensely rich in flocks and herds, had engaged Hercules to cleanse his 
stalls ; which service he performed by turning a river through them, and 
on Augeas refusing to pay him the stipulated reward, which was every 
tenth cow, he made war against him. Cteatus and Eurytus assisted 
Augeas, and destroyed Hercules' army, as stated in the text ; in return 
for which he laid in wait for them, and slew them as they were coming 
from the Isthmian Games, in the neighbourhood of Cleonas ; where 
Pausanias saw their monuments near the Temple of Minerva. — Paics. 
lib. ii. c. 15 ; lib. v. cc. 1, 2. 

+ Cleo ace's dell. Cleonae was a town situated on a round hill near the 
road from Argos to Corinth, distant about ten miles from the latter, 
whose lofty citadel (the Acrocorinthos) is visible from its summit. It is 
belted with six terraces rising above each other. Homer describes it as 
a well-built town in the time of the Trojan war ; and part of its massive 
walls continue to this day. — II. ii. 1. 570 ; Stra. lib. viii. p. 579 ; Dodw. 
Trav. vol. ii. p. 206. 

t Th-ynthian host. Hercules, at the time of this affair with Augeas, 
lived at Tiryns near Argos ; from whence he is often called Tirynthius 
heros by the Latin poets. For Tiryns, see Olymp. ode vii. antis. ii. and note. 

§ Choicest chiefs. Among these were Iphicles the brother of Hercules, 
and Telamon, the father of Ajax. 



232 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE X. 

EPODE II. 

That guest-beguiling king the wrath of Heaven 

Soon reach'd. He saw the sceptre of his sway, 
To sword and flame his wealth and country given, 

Saw his Epeian* kingdom pass away, 
Sunk in Destruction's gulf ! 'Tis hard indeed 

The conflict with a mightier foe to close ; 
And wit forsakes whom Fate hath doom'd to bleed. 

Himself a captive thus, the last of those 
Whose loyalty his fault and fortune shared, 
'Scaped not the dire revenge Herculean rage prepared. 

STROPHE III. 

That justice satisfied, the son of Jove 
Muster'd his conquering bands and massy spoils 
On Pisa's plain, the fruits of all their toils. 

To his great Sire the sacred Grove 
He compass'd out ; and in clear space within 

Paled all the sever'd Altist round ; 

For the free banquet smooth'd the circled ground ; 
And crown'd Alpheius' banks with many a shrine 

* Epeian. The Eleians were called the Epeians, as in Homer (II. ii. 
1. 619), till after the time of Augeas, the son of Eleus, or (as some say) 
HAtoc, the sun. For a pleasing account of the flocks and herds of 
Augeas, see Theoc. Idyl. xxv. 1. 24, et seq. 

*t* Altis. It is not very clear from this passage, compared with the 2nd 
and 3rd strophes of the 3rd Olympic Ode, whether the Altis occupied the 
whole clear space within the circuit of the grove, or only a severed 
part of it, or whether the grove was within, and a part only of 
the Altis, or only a plantation round the Hippodrome. Pausanias un- 
fortunately has not given us a topographical description of the place : he 
says nothing of any grove, or tree except the Callistephanus (the wild 
olive, which supplied the chaplets for the victors), nor has even informed 
us in direct terms whether the Stadium and Hippodrome were within the 
Altis or without ; although it seems from one passage at least that the 
Hippodrome was without (Paus. lib. v. c. 15). If the Altis had any 
visible boundary, it is to be collected from this writer, that it was not a 
belt of trees, but a wall (lib. v. cc. 24, 25) : neither does he allude to any 
plantation round the Hippodrome. We are, however, told by Pindar in 
the Olymp. ode iii. stro. ii. iii., that, there being no trees at Olympia, 
Hercules obtained the wild olive from the Hyperboreans, to form the 
Grove of Jupiter, and to plant it round the Hippodrome. Now if the 
plantation round the Hippodrome and the Grove of Jupiter were the 
same thing, and if the Hippodrome was not within the Altis, the latter 



.ODE X.] OLYMPIC ODES. 233 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

To the twelve Sovereign Gods.* Yon bordering peak 
The Cronian Mount he call'd, a nameless waste 
When old iEnomaus reign'd, by song ungraced, 

And drench'd with snows its turrets bleak. 
To that prime consecration and high rite 

The Fates t in stern attendance came ; 

And Time, whose sole probation can proclaim 
Truth to be true, that season stay'd his flight. 

could not have been the grove, or aXaog ; and if the grove were not the 
plantation round the Hippodrome, it could not have been the Altis, 
which, as far as we can gather from Pausanias, was surrounded by a wall. 
It is more probable that this sacred grove surrounded the old temple of 
Olympian Jupiter before the erection of the new one in the time of 
Phidias, than that it occupied or surrounded the whole Altis ; which 
contained within it, in addition to that temple, the temples of Juno 
and of Cybele, the Pelopion, the Prytanaeum, the Proedria, the Leoni- 
daeum, the Psecile or Painted Cloister, seven Treasuries, the Hippodamion 
occupying an acre of ground, and was in short so large, that the battle 
between the Spartans and Eleians was fought within it. — Pans. lib. v. 
and vi. c. 2. In the passage, on which this note is written, Pindar uses 
both the words dXaog and dXrig, apparently to denote two different 
things, the former not signifying merely a sacred inclosure, but a grove 
of trees. Yet Pausanias tells us, that having perverted the name, they 
had called the sacred aXcrog of Jupiter aXrig, from antiquity : he adds, 
however, that by Pindar the whole place (to x^p'iov) is named "A Arte 
(lib. v. c. 10) ; which Damm says, not stating his authority, was in the 
Eleian language the same as dXaog. The word is not in Hesychius, or 
in the old edition of H. Stephens's Thesaurus, though in Yalpy's new 
edition, it is said to be the same as aXaog. Robert Stephens renders it 
a grove ; Benedict, a temple ; Damm, contrary to all authority, the name 
of the Temple of Jupiter ; and Schmidius and Heyne, simply Altis, i. e. 
they do not translate it but treat it as the proper name of an inclosed 
spot at Olympia. 

* To the twelve Sovereign Gods. We have before observed that the six 
double altars there mentioned, wei-e dedicated to fourteen deities, in- 
cluding the three Graces. I suppose, however, that the twelve gods 
here alluded to were the Dii nobiles of Ovid, or Dii majorum gentium, 
whose pictures were in a cloister in the Ceramicus, at Athens (Paw. 
lib. i. c. 3) ; and which, if they were the same, which Spence has placed 
in the Roman Pantheon, were Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Neptune, Vesta, 
Apollo, Diana, Ceres, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Vulcan. 

+ The Fates. There was an oblong altar at Olympia dedicated to the 
Pates. — Paus. lib. v. c. 15. The poet means by this figurative expres- 
sion, that the Olympic games were originally destined for duration. 



234 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE X. 



EPODE III. 

He in his course advancing to this hour 
Bears record where the Hero's altars rose ; 

The gifts of war how portion'd he, the flower 

Of all the spoils he gain'd from all his foes ; 

How solemnized his great Quinquennial Feast. 

Say now, what envied youth the new-wrought crown 

Earn'd in that first Olympiad, from the crest 
Of his foil'd foe plucking his fresh renown 1 
Who quell'd his rival in the manual war. 
Flew on the bounding foot, or whirl'd the madding car. 

STROPHE IV. 

.^Eonus first, Licymnius'* youthful son, 
"Who ruled in Midea's t walls his native force, 
With speed unmatch'd along the Stadian course 

The light pedestrian chaplet won. 
First in the wrestler's ring from Tegea'sJ plain 

Shone Echemus. To Tiryns shore 

The Boxer's manly prize Doryclus bore ; 
While four fleet coursers with his mastering rein 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

To the bright goal Mantinean§ Semus took. 
Home to the mark the lance of Phrastor flew : 
Farthest with circling hand and impulse true 

Enikeus hurl'd the whirling rock ; || 

* Idcymnius'. This was the son of Alectryon and Midea, the spurious 
brother of Alcmena, killed by Hercules. 

f Midea, a town in Argolis, not far from Nauplia, probably so named 
after the mother of Licymnius, being under the government of Alectryon. 
Mr. Dodwell describes some ruins, which he conjectures to have been 
those of Midea.— Vol. ii. p. 249. 

X Tegea, a city of Arcadia, of which Echemus was king, lying between 
Mantinea and Lacedaemon. — See Olymp. ode ix. antistro. iii. note on 
Telephus. 

§ Mantinea. Mantinea, a town famous for the victory and death of 
Epaminondas, the celebrated Theban general, was situated immediately 
north of Tegea, in Arcadia. It is singular that the first chariot-race at 
Olympia should have been won by the native of a town, of which Nep- 
tune, the god of horses, was the tutelary deity. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 
p. 423. 

|| Whirling rock. This was the discus or quoit, which was made of 



ODE X.] OLYMPIC ODES. 235 

That all his peers the triumph of his might 
With shouts applauded. Rising uow 
The soft-eyed Moon on Evening's tranquil brow 

Hung the full circle* of her lovely light. 

EPODE IV. 

There in full choir the genial Feast t around 

Encomiastic songs and joyful strains 
Rung through the sacred Grove : such cheering sound 

Swells for the crown our Locrian hero gains. 
True to the custom'd and constituent rite, 

Sing we the thunder and the dazzling bolt 
That arms Jove's fiery grasp, when in his might 

He hurls the bellowing vengeance thro' the vault. 
To the loud pipe respond the melting lays 
Which late from Dirce's fount:}; her lingering minstrel 

pays ; 

STROPHE V. 

Dear, as the smiling infant, which the wife 
Almost past hope to its fond father bears 
Now far declined into the vale of years, 

And warms with love his waning life. 
For who, that with long thrift and honest toil 

His patrimonial store hath swell' d, 

Loathes not in childless age his gains to yield, 
And leave strange heirs to riot on the spoil 1 



either stone, as appears from this passage and Odyss. viii. 1. 190 ; or of 
brass, as in Statius. Theb. lib. vi. 1. 648, or of iron. It was fiat and 
square, or like a lentil. 

* The Olympic games were solemnized at the full of the moon. 

•f The genial Feast. We learn from Pausanias, that in the Pryta- 
nreum in the Altis, at Olympia, opposite the cell where the karia, or 
Ever-burning Hearth, was placed, there was a banqueting-room, in which 
the victors were entertained ; and the songs that were sung there, were 
in the Doric dialect (lib. v. c. 1 5), an additional reason why Pindar 
should characterize his Olympic odes by the title of the Dorian Lyre. 

% Dirce's fount. This was a fountain at Thebes often mentioned by 
our poet, whom Horace has therefore called the Dircasan Swan. It 
appears from the sixth Isthmian ode, 1. 108, et seq. to have been near 
the gates of Thebes, one of which was called tcprivalai irvXai, the Foun- 
tain Gate, called by Statius the Dircaean Gate. — Paus. lib. ix. c. 8 ; 
Stat. Theb. lib. viii. 1. 357. 



236 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE X. 



ANTISTROPELE V. 

So who -with name unsung* from Glory's fray, 
Agesidamus, sinks to Death's domain, 
The slave of thankless care hath breathed in vain. 

And flung life's rapturous hour away. 
For thee the sweet voice of the warbling lyre, 

The soft mellifluous flutes diffuse 

Their mixt harmonious graces. Fame pursues 
"Where Jove's Pierian Maids the strain inspire. 

EPODE v. 

By them inflamed have I with earnest praise 

Th' illustrious Locrians crown'd; pour'd on their 
town, 
Home of the brave, the honey of my lays, t 

And swell'd, A_rchestratus, thy son's renown. 
Him by th' Olympic altar I beheld 

Quelling the mightiest with his vigorous arm : 
In beauty's flower his manly form excell'd, 

"Where Youth o'er Strength diffused her early charm ; 
Such Youth as erst by winning Cypria^ led 
Relentless death repell'd from blooming Ganymede. 

* With name wisiing. Theocritus in the same spirit says : 
But chief the Muses' sacred priests revere, 
That, when the grave shall hide thee, thou mayst hear 
Thy virtues blazon'd, nor to fame unknown 
"Wail on the banks of cheerless Acheron. — Idyl. xvi. 1. 31. 
+ The honey of my lays. Lucretius illustrates poetry by the same 
metaphor. 

To win thy ear, I've chosen to rehearse 
In the sweet accents of Pierian verse 
My reason'd theme, and touch it for thy use 
As with the dulcet honey of the Muse. — Bk. i. 
X Cypria, Venus ; in the original KV7rpoyevrig. Hesiod (not to detail 
all the stories of her genealogy) tells us, that Venus was called 
KVTrpoyevrjg, because she was born in Cyprus. — Theog. 199. The fact, 
however, is, that the celestial Venus was first worshipped by the 
Assyrians, and then by the Paphians, in that island (from whence she 
derived the names of Kvirpig and KVTrpoyevijg), and by the Phoenicians 
at Ascalon ; who by means of their commercial intercourse, introduced 
her rites into the island of Cythera, from whence she acquired the name 
of Cythereia, and was figuratively said to have risen from the foaming 



ODE XI.] OLYMPIC ODES. 237 



ODE XL 

TO THE SAME AGESIDAMUS, 

For his Victory in the Game of Boxing * 

STROPHE. 

Sometimes we need the breathing gale, 
Sometimes the soft celestial rain, 

Child of the cloud,t to bless the vale ; 
But when Success Adventure crowns, the lyre's mellifluous 
strain 

To spread th' eternal blazon, and assever 

On Fame's unfailing oath, that Virtue lives for ever. 

ANTISTROPHE. 

To those, that win th' Olympian prize 
Such lavish eulogies belong ; 

And such my willing tongue supplies : 
For aye the flowers of genius bloom, when Heav'n inspires 
the song. 

Son of Archestratus, thy proud renown, 

(Agesidamus hear !) thy olive's golden crown, 

sea, a fiction recorded by the poets in her title Aphrodite. Pausanias 
tells us, that from an inscription on a statue, or square stone at Athens, 
representing the celestial Venus, it appears that she was deemed the 
eldest of the Fates ; a character in which, in addition to her more com- 
mon one, she may with much elegance have been supposed by the poet 
to have assisted Youth in conferring immortality on Ganymede. — Pans. 
lib. i. cc. 14, 19. 

* Whether this ode was written to commemorate a second victory 
obtained by Agesidamus, or only as the usury which he engages in the 
second antistrophe of the preceding ode, to pay for his delay in writing 
it, has not been ascertained. The latter seems the more probable 
supposition. 

T Child of the cloud. Statius applies the same image to the rivers, 
Nubigenas e montibus amnes. — Thcb. lib. 1. 365. 
The cloud-descended mountain-streams. 



238 



OLYMPIC ODES. 



[ODE XII. 



EPODE. 

Won by thy matchless hand shall share 
The sweet melodious lay, 

The Western Locrians* all my care : 

There, Muses, join the festal choir, for they 
Chase not, I ween, the stranger from their shore, 
Nor live unlearn'd in Glory's lore. 
Science and warlike enterprise are theirs : 

The Fox, the raging Lion, every creature 
Unchanged its inborn instinct bears, 

Leaves not the cast of Nature. 



ODE XII. 

TO ERGOTELES OF HIMERA, 

Victor in the Long Foot-Bace.f 



STROPHE. 

Daughter of Eleutherian Jove, J 

Protecting Fortune, to thy power I pray 
To guard imperial Himera : § 

Guided by th.ee J | the winged gallies move 

* The Western Locrians. We learn from the preceding ode, that 
Agesidamus was a Zephyrian, or Western Locrian. 

+ Tlie Long Foot-race, or SoXixodpofxog, was a race six times, or ac- 
cording to Suidas, twelve times, round the foot-course, as Bentley tells us. 

t Eleutherian Jove. The titles of Fortune and Eleutherian Jupiter 
were familiar to the mind of Pindar : for, after the defeat of Xerxes' 
army near Platsea, a city of Bceotia, the Greeks erected a temple to 
Jupiter Eleutherius, that is, the guardian of liberty (Stra. lib. ix. p. 632) ; 
and at Thebes there was a temple dedicated to Fortune. — Pans. lib. ix. 
c. 16. The reader will no doubt observe the propriety of opening with 
an address to this goddess, thus descended, an ode written in honour of 
Ergoteles ; who had fled from a sedition in which he had been engaged 
in Crete, to the city of Himera, in Sicily, where he is said to have taken 
a successful part in the contest between Hiero and Gelon, as the Scho- 
liast says, though I rather think that it was between Hiero and Theron. 
— Diod. Sic. lib. ii. c. 48. 

§ Himera, a city situated on the northern coast of Sicily, celebrated 
for its warm baths, and for being the birthplace of the poet Stesichorus. 

U Guided by thee, &c, So Horace in the first book of bis odes, ode 



ODE XII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 239 

Through the wide sea : thine are th' impetuous wars, 
The pondering councils : by thy changeful sway 

Now sunk below, now lifted to the stars 
Thro' life's illusions vaiu Hope steers her wandering way. 

ANTISTROPHE. 

But by sure presage to descry 

Th' approaching day's event, mysterious Heaven 
Hath not to helpless mortals given ; 
And all is blind tow'rds dim futurity.* 
Oft on the best in fond Opinion's spite 
Joy's sad reverse has fall'n ; others no less 

With Woe's distressful storms long doom'd to fight. 
Have changed in one short hour disaster to success. 

EPODE. 

Son of Philenor,t thy renown 
Had shed its faded flower, 
Thy speed beyond thy native bower, 
Like the brave cock's^: domestic wars, unknown: 
Had not, Ergoteles, the civil fray, 

That friend with friend embroils, 
Forced thee from Cnossian fields § away ; 
Now in th' Olympic grove for nobler toils, 

35, in imitation of this ode of Pindar, calls Fortune the mistress of the 
sea, dominam sequoris. 

* And all is blind, <kc. Juvenal has given us this sentiment in its 
most forcible and appalling form. 

Since Delphi's shrine is mute, and darkness blind 

With nescience of the future damns mankind. — Sat. vi. 554. 

+ Son of Philenor. Philenor was the father of Ergoteles, to whom 
this ode is addressed. 

X Like the brave cock's, &c. Heyne observes, that the figure of a cock 
was impressed upon the coins of Himera, a circumstance which might 
have suggested this comparison to the poet : to which we may add that 
this bird was probably a favourite symbol also among the Cretans ; for 
among the statues in the Altis, at Olympia, of the nine chiefs who (as 
Homer tells us) drew lots for the privilege of combating with Hector, 
that of Idomeneus, the king of Crete, bore a shield, with a cock 
emblazoned on it, being the emblem of the Sun, the father of Pasiphae. 
from whom that warrior was descended. — Paus. lib. v. c. 25. 

§ Cnossian fields. Cnossus was a city of Crete, celebrated for the 
Labyrinth, in which the Minotaur was confined. It was the birthplace 
of Ergoteles, from which he had been driven in consequence of his share 
i the sedition mentioned in the text. 



240 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE XIII. 

By Isthmians once, and twice in Pytho crown'd, 
A worthier hearth thy Fame has found 
By the warm waves of Himera, 

Whose Nymphs by thee ennobled hail thy stay. 



ODE XIII. 

TO XENOPHON THE CORINTHIAN, 

Victor in the Single Foot-Race and in the Pentathlon. 

STROPHE I. 

"While to the House thrice in Olympia* crown'd, 
The citizen's indulgent friend, 
The stranger's host, my praise I send ; 
Thee, prosperous Corinth,t for thy race renown'd, 
Portal of Isthmian Neptune, % shall my strain 
Forget not. There the Golden Sisters reign 

* TJirice in Olympia. Thessalus, the father of Xenophon, had also 
won the single foot-race at Olympia (as will appear in the second anti- 
strophe), making with those of his son three Olympic victories in that 
family. 

■f Prosperous Corinth. So Homer calls this city a<pvelov re TLopivQov, 
the wealthy Corinth ; although, as Pausanias observes, she seems not to 
have been a sovereign state at the time of the Trojan war, but with 
Pellene, Sicyon, and others, to have only furnished her contingent to the 
hundred ships under the command of Agamemnon. — II. ii. 570. Her 
prosperity no doubt arose from the advantages of her situation between 
two gulfs communicating with the yEgean and Ionian seas, that is, 
with Italy, Sicily, Asia, and Africa ; and affording the only land-pas- 
sage to the Peloponnese and the northern states of Greece. Many 
stories are told of the wealth of the Corinthians : among others that 
of Cypselus, who destroyed and succeeded to the tyranny of the Bac- 
chiadae, and who sent as an offering to Olympia the full-sized statue of a 
man made entirely of beaten gold. — Stra. lib. viii. p. 580. For a 
descripton of Corinth as it was and now is, the reader is referred to the 
last-cited author, to Pausanias, lib. ii. ; Clarke's Trav. vol. iii. p. 730 ; 
and Dodwell's Trav. vol. ii. p. 187. 

X Isthmian Neptune. That Neptune should have been worshipped at 
a place so indebted to the sea for its prosperity, might be of course ex- 
pected. We are told, however, that, in a contest for Corinth between 



ODE XIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 241 

From Themis sprung,* Eunomia pure 
Safe Justice and congenial Peace, 

Basis of states ; whose counsels sure 
With wealth and wisdom bless the world's increase. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

And Insolence the child of bold-tongued Pride 

Far from the social haunt repel. 

Many a fair tale have I to tell, 

Which fearless Truth forbids my song to hide, 

If aught could hide what Nature's grace bestows. 

Sons of the famed Aletes ; t round your brows 

that god and Apollo, the Acropolis was adjudged by Briareus, their 
umpire, to the latter, and the Isthmus to the former, to whom it ever 
afterwards belonged. The Temple of Neptune, in which there were 
statues of himself and Amphitrite, standing in their chariot, is described 
by Pausanias, lib. ii. c. 1. Its present remains, as well as those of the 
adjacent theatre and stadium, where the Isthmian Games were solem- 
nized, were discovered by Dr. Clarke, a little to the south of Mount 
Oneius, near the Saronian gulf. — Clarice's Trav. vol. iii. p. 751, et seq. 

* From Tliemis sprung. These three daughters of Themis, called "Hocii, 
Hours, of whom (see Paus. lib. v. c. 17) there were three statues seated 
on thrones in the Temple of Juno in the Altis, at Olympia, are not to 
be confounded with the Hours who, according to Ovid, harnessed tha 
horses of the Sun, and who are so beautifully portrayed in Guido's cele- 
brated picture of Aurora ; from whom they differ both in function, 
character, and number, as the passage in Hesiod, from, whence Pindar, 
as usual, takes their genealogy, will show. 

Bright Themis next received th' embrace of Jove, 

And bore the Hours, the pledges of his love, 

Justice and Eunomy, and Peace serene, 

That perfect all the works of mortal men. 
Spenser has also introduced them as attendants on Mercilla. 

"Just Dice, wise Eunomia, mild Eirene." 

Fa. Qu. b. v. c. 9, stro. 32. 
We have no English word for Eunomia, Avhich signifies the genius of 
good laws. 

t Aletes. This was the great-great grandson of Hercules, who led 
the Dorians against Corinth, which was delivered up to him by the; 
descendants of Sisyphus, theretofore the ruler or Archon of that city. 
Aletes and his posterity were succeeded by the Bacchiadce, who were 
expelled by Cypselus, the founder of the monarchy. — Paus. lib. ii. c. 4. 
The classical reader will perceive why Theocritus has made Gorgo boast 
at the same time of her Corinthian origin and Doric dialect. 
And to be plain, our sires from Corinth sprung ; 
And Dorians sure may use the Doric tongue. — Idyl. 15, 93. 
R 



242 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE XIII. 

Oft have the blooming Hours * display'd 
At sacred game in Glory's field 

Triumphant Virtue's noblest braid ; 
Oft to your throbbing hearts by hints reveal'd 

EPODE I. 

Discoveries old of Wisdom's ways, 

And works still pregnant with th' inventor's praise. t 

Whence sprung the Dithyrambic choir 1 % 
The bull by dancing Bacchants led 1 

Who taught to curb the courser's fire ? § 
Who on the solemn Temples first outspread 

The Sovereign Eagle's || sculptured wings 1 

Yours is the Muse's warbled lay,^[ 
And Mars,** to panting youth that brings 
The wreath that crowns the fatal fray. 

* The blooming Hours, the daughters of Themis above mentioned. 

■f Virgil has placed the discoverers of useful arts in his Elysium. 
Who by invented arts improved mankind. — JEn. vi. 663. 

X The Dithyrambic choir. This was a circular dance, invented at 
Corinth, and performed at the Feasts of Bacchus, where a bull was the 
prize and sacrifice, as the Scholiast informs us. 

§ The courser's fire. The sequel of this ode will show, that the curb 
or bit, and probably the art of managing horses, was first discovered (at 
least in Greece) by Bellerophon, the descendant of the Corinthian 
Sisyphus. 

|| The Sovereign Eagle's, &c. The triangular space, or Tympanum, over 
the porticos, at each end of the Grecian temples, was called the derol or 
Eagles, each being perhaps originally ornamented with an eagle stand- 
ing with expanded wings, so as to correspond with the figure of the 
Tympanum. The invention of this ornament, or, perhaps, of the 
Tympanum itself, the poet here ascribes to the Corinthians. It should 
seem also, that the whole space within the temple, next the roof, 
between the tympanums, was called the derol or dlrw/xa. — See Paus. 
lib. i. c. 24 ; lib. x. c. 19. Dr. Clarke tells us, that the souls of kings, 
over whose sepulchres temples were first erected, were formerly sup- 
posed to be carried to heaven on the wings of eagles ; that at their 
funerals an eagle was made to fly over the grave, and that from thence 
this ornament was placed upon the tympanums of their temples. — Trav. 
vol. iii. p. 721, note 2. But he cites no authority for this hypothesis ; 
and in Pausanias, lib. ii. c. 7 (which he quotes), the coverings of the 
Sicyonian tombs are likened to the derol of temples, as if the shape of 
the former had been borrowed from the latter. 

"II Warbled lay. This is supposed to allude to Eumolpus and JEson, 
two Corinthian poets, whose works have not reached us ; but the latter, 
as the Scholiast says, is mentioned by Simonides. 

** Mars, &c, alluding probably to the share which the Corinthians 



ODE XIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 243 



STROPHE II. 

Thou, whose wide rule protects the Olympian land, 

Grudge not my song, Paternal Jove, 

Thy boundless favour from above ! 
Still o'er this people stretch thy sheltering hand : 
Swell the fresh gale of Xenophon's renown, 
And for his powers in Pisa shown 

Accept the ritual praise we pour. 
Pedestrian speed, Pentathlian might,* 

Alike he conquer' d : man before 
Ne'er join'd th' unequal palms of strength and flight. 

AXTISTROPHE II. 

His tnyphied brows the parsley's t crisp'd tiar 
Twice at the Feasts of Isthmus bound : 
His deeds the Nemean rocks resound : 

The dazzling speed of Thessalus his sire 

Still famed on Alpheus' banks obtam'd the crown ; 
He, ere one sun on Pytho's peaks went down, 
The single gain'd and double race : 

Three wreaths on Athens' £ rugged strand 
In one short month's triumphant space 

Twined round his radiant locks their blended band : 

had in the celebrated battles of Thenno-pylse, Salainis, and - Platsea, 
against the Persians. 

* Pentathlian might. The Pentathlon, which signifies the Five- 
Games, consisted of throwing the javelin and the discus (something like 
a quoit), of leaping, running, and wrestling, as the ancient well-known 
epigram attests. 

The Leap, the Pace, the Wrestle, Disc, and Lance. 
West has justly observed, that the victor in the Pentathlon required 
such an union of strength and agility, that it was scarcely possible for 
him to possess enough of either, to excel a competitor in any of these 
five exercises exclusively. 

+ The parsley's, &c. The Isthmian, as well as the Nemean crown, 
was a wreath of parsley ; both these games, as the Scholiast observes, 
having been instituted to commemorate the dead, the former Melicertes, 
and the latter Archemorus, and this plant being sacred to the subter- 
ranean deities. It appears that Xenophon was victorious twice in the 
Isthmian, and once in the Nemean Games. 

X Three wreathe on Athens', d-c. The three games at Athens, in 
which Thessalus, the father of Xenophon, was victorious, were the 

r2 



244 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODS XIII. 



EPODE II. 

Sev'n times the Hellotian prize* he bore, 
And with his sire, th' illustrious Ptseodore, 

'Twixt the two gulfs in Neptune's Garnet 
Earn'd for his meed the minstrel's chant, 

The rapturous gift of deathless Fame. 
How graced your matchless deeds the Lion's haunt 1 X 

How shone the Delphian steeps § below? — 
Th' excess confounds me, while I teach 

Your multiplied exploits ; for who 

Shall count the sands that heap the beach 1 

STROPHE III. 

But all things have their bounds, by wisdom's sight, 
When just Occasion warns, descried : 
And I thus launch'd on Praise's tide 
To hymn departed gloiy, and the fight 
Where Virtue wins th' heroic victory, 
Disdain to frame the laudatory lie 



Staclion, or single foot-race ; the Diaulos, or double foot-race ; and the 
Hoplitodromus, or foot-race by men in armour. 

* The Hellotian prize. The Hellotian Games were solemnized at 
Corinth, at the Feast of Minerva Hellotis, in which young men ran 
with lighted torches. This name, according to the Scholiast, followed 
by Potter, was given to the goddess (among other reasons), because, 
when the Dorians took Corinth, and had set fire to her temple, for the 
purpose of destroying a young woman, called Hellotis, who had taken 
refuge there, Minerva visited their city with a pestilence : to avert 
which and appease her anger, the feast and games, thence called 
Hellotian, were instituted. 

T Neptune's Game, viz. the Isthmian Games, celebrated in the 
Isthmus between the Corinthian and Saronian gulfs. 

X The Lions haunt. On the mountains between Nemea and Cleonse, 
distant from each other about two miles, the den of the Nemean lion, 
killed by Hercules, was shown to Pausanias ; the poet, therefore, with 
some little latitude of expression, calls the place of the games the Lion's 
haunt. — Pans. lib. ii. c. 15 ; Chandl. vol. ii. p. 261. 

§ Tlie Delphian steeps below, i. e. the place where the Pythian Games 
were held. For a description of its ancient state, see Paus. lib. 10, and 
of its present state including the Stadium and the fountain of Castalia, 
Bee Clarke's Trav. vol. i'v. pp. 177, 190. 



ODE XIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 245 

E'en for proud Corintli ; though she boast 
The gifted god-like Sisyphus,* 

And her that rescued Argo's hostt 
Spite of her sire to gain her Minyan spouse. 

ANTISTHOPHE III. 

Add what her sons before the Dardan wall J 

Of warlike hardiment display'd 

Each side the combat ; § these array 'd 
With Atreus' race fair Helen to recall, 

Those to retain conflicting. Glaucus there 
Lycia's bold captain taught e'en Greeks to fear. 

His boast was, that his sire of yore 
By pure Pirene's fount || his reign 

O'er all her towering city bore 
And call'd her walls his palace and domain ; 



ms, an ancient king, or rather ruler of Corinth, father of 
Glaucus, the father of Bellerophon, celebrated for his wisdom and 
sagacity, and called therefore by Homer, Kepdicrrog avdpuif. — II. vi. 
1. 154. This is the person doomed in the shades below, according to the 
poets, to the perpetual labour of pushing up a hill a huge stone, which 
rolled back again the moment it had reached the summit. — Horn. Odyss. 
xi. 1. 592. He was, however, in great esteem at Corinth, where the 
ruins of a large edifice, called the Sisypheion, remained in Strabo's time, 
supposed to have been either the temple or the palace, or perhaps the 
tomb of Sisyphus. — Clarice's Trav. vol. iii. 735. 

•f Argo's host, the heroes who embarked on board the ship Argo, on 
the celebrated expedition to Colchis, to bring away the golden fleece ; 
and who would all have been destroyed by the king .ZEetes, if his 
daughter Medea, being enamoured with their leader, Jason, had not 
assisted them with her drugs and incantations, to resist the flames that 
issued from the nostrils of the brazen-footed bulls, and to destroy the 
sleepless dragon that watched the object of their enterprise. See Pyth, 
ode iv., where the story is told with great beauty, brevity, and spirit. 
The noble and interesting poem of Apollonius Ehodius (of which "Virgil 
has so frequently availed himself), as also that of Valerius Flaccus on the 
tame subject, are familiar to the Greek and Latin scholar. Medea fled 
from Colchis with Jason, into Greece, and afterwards lived with him at 
Corinth. 

t The Dardan wall, the walls of Troy, of which Dardanus was the 
founder and king. 

§ Each side the combat. The Corinthians fought against Troy, under 
the immediate command of Agamemnon (II. ii. 1. 570) ; while Glaucus, 
the king of Lycia, grandson of Bellerophon the Corinthian, was engaged 
on the side of Priam. 

j| Pirene"s fount. This fountain was at the foot of the Acropolis, at 



246 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE XIII. 



EPODE III. 

That sire,* who toil'd so long to lead 
The grisly Gorgon's refractory seed 

Wild Pegasus ;t ere Pallas made 
For his rude hand the golden rein 

In dazzling dream before him laid — 
" Sleep'st thou, -^Eolian king?" with wakening strain 

She cried, " Yon fiery steed to rule 

" Take this bright spell, and bid thy sire 

" Th' Equestrian GodJ; with pastured bull 

" Heaping his shrine, thy gift admire." 

Corinth, celebrated for its purity. — Clarke's Trav. vol. iii. pp. 731, 732. 
Hence Ovid calls Corinth, of which the ancient name was Ephyre, 
Ephyren Pirenida. — Metamoi'ph. lib. vii. 391. 

* That sire, &c. This was Bellerophon, the son of Glaucus, who is 
said to have tamed Pegasus ; and afterwards to have fled from Corinth 
to Argos, from whence he was banished to Lycia by Prsetus, the Argive 
king, under a false charge made against him by the queen Sthenobaea 
(whose amorous overtures he had, in fact, rejected), that he had made 
an attempt upon her chastity. He became at last king of Lycia, which 
was afterwards governed by his grandson Glaucus, as above stated. It 
should seem from this ode that he was the inventor of the bit or curb. 
His memory was revered at Corinth, near which a temple was dedicated 
to him in a grove of cypress ; and in Neptune's Isthmian temple there 
was a statue of him and Pegasus. — Pans. lib. ii. cc. 1, 2. 

t Pegasus. When Perseus cut off the Gorgon Medusa's head, Pegasus, 
the winged horse of the Muses, sprang, as Hesiod imports, from the 
blood that issued from the wouud. — Theog. 280. His connection with 
Corinth is recognized in some ancient Corinthian coins, seen by Dr. 
Clarke, having the head of Minerva on one side, and Pegasus on the 
other. — CI. Trav. vol. iii. p. 758. 

X Th' Equestrian God, Neptune ; who was said to have been the real 
father of Bellerophon, probably from his skill in horsmanship, Neptune 
being worshipped by the Greeks, as the god of horses. Accordingly 
we find, that at Athens and in the Hippodrome at Olympia there were 
altars, and on the mountain Halesium, near Tegea, a temple, to the 
Hippian (or equestrian) Neptune. — Paus. lib. i. c. 30 ; lib. v. c. 15 ; lib. 
viii. c. 10. How it happened that the ruler of the sea was worshipped 
as the god of horses, we are not informed ; it is said, indeed, that it 
arose from his assuming a horse's shape, to accomplish his amorous 
design on Ceres, who, in order to escape from his caresses, had previously 
undergone a similar transformation. — Paus. lib. viii. c. 25. Pausanias 
himself supposes that Neptune invented horsemanship (lib. vii. c. 21) ; 
for which he assigns as an authority (which proves no such thing), that 
Homer makes Menelaus require Antilochus to put his hand upon his 



ODE XIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 247 



STROPHE IV. 

Thus in mid night with gleaming .iEgis graced, 
The Virgin hail'd him as he slept : 
Roused on his feet at once he leapt 
To clutch the glittering wonder, which in haste 

To Polyide* the neighbouring Seer he brought, 
And told th' event his foresight sage had taught ; 
" How while he dreamt the wondrous dream 
" Couch'd on her shrine, the daughter chaste 

" Of Jove, whose spear's the lightning's beam, 
" Herself the potent gold beside him laid." 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Paused not the Prophet, but with press'd advice 
Urged him the vision to obey ; 
" First offering him, whose watery sway 
" Bounds the vast Earth, his sturdy sacrifice, 

" To Hippian Pallas + next a shrine to build : 

" For gods 'gainst oaths and hopes with ease can 

yield 
" To trembling mortals good or harm." 
Forth sprung the stout Bellerophon, 

Stretch'd on his mouth the thrilling charm, 
And made the winged fugitive his own, 

horses, and to swear by Neptune that he had not wronged him in the 
chariot-race (H. xxiii. 1. 584) : but he adds that Pamphus, an old 
Athenian hymnist, had said that Neptune was the giver of horses and 
of ships, 

'l~~ix)v re eorijpa vsCjv t* lOvicprjdefivuJv. 
This, I make no doubt, conceals the whole secret, viz. that the original 
or improved breed of horses was imported into Greece by sea (that is, by 
Neptune), from Asia or Africa ; and thus the horse issued from the 
ship that struck upon the land, or as Virgil poetically puts it, 

Fudit equum magno tellus percussa tridenti. — Geo. i. 13. 

* Polyide. Polyidus, the son of Caeranus, was a Corinthian sooth- 
sayer, whose son Euchenor was killed by Paris at the Trojan war. — II. 
xiii. 663 ; Pans. lib. i. c. 43. 

+ Hippian Pallas. This is not the only instance in which Neptune 
and Minerva are brought together in their equestrian character ; for on 
the Hippian Hill, near Athens, there was an altar to the Hippian 
Minerva, and another to the Hippian Neptune. — Paus. lib. i. c. 30. 



"248 



OLYMPIC ODES. 



[ODE XIII. 



EPODE IV. 

And leapt in brazen arms array'd 

On his proud back and with his fury playM 

"With him the Amazons 45 ' from the cold 
And desert bosom of the sky, 

A female host of archers bold, 
He smote j with him the warlike Solymi,t 
And fierce Chimsera breathing fire — 

Pass we his downfall from above, 
But mark the ascending steed retire 
Within the Olympian stalls of Jove. 

steophe v. 

But while direct the lance of song we send, 

What boots it from the tuneful string 
Far from the mark our shafts to fling ? 
For to the tribe of Oligsethe j a friend 

With all the bright-throned Muses, N"emean plain 
And Isthmian shore I'll visit with my strain. 



* Amazons. See a curious account of the African Amazons on the 
Lake Tritonis. — Diod. Sic. lib. iii. c. 52. 

t Sol y mi. Chimcera. Homer informs us, that when Bellerophon was 
sent by Praetus to Lycia, the king of that country employed him against 
the Amazons, the Solymi (who inhabited the country between Lycia 
and Pamphylia) and the Chirnaera, all of whom he subdued. The Chi- 
maera was a monster having the forepart of a lion, the hindpart of a 
dragon, and in the middle a chimaera, though what a chimaera was, xhe 
father of the poets has omitted to define ; he says, however, that it 
was bred by one Amysadorus, whose sons accompanied Sarpedon to the 
Trojan war. — II. vi. p. 150, and II. xvi. 1. 328. There was a mountain 
of this name in Lycia, which cast forth flames during the night (Pirn. 
lib. v. c. 27) ; and Dr. Clarke gives us an interesting account of the 
meteoric coruscations which he witnessed, and which are often known 
to play upon the mountains on that coast. — Trav. vol. iii. p. 316. With 
regard to Bellerophon, it is said, that he, having afterwards attempted 
to mount to heaven upon Pegasus, the latter was stung by an oestrum 
sent from Jupiter, threw his rider, but was himself admitted into the 
celestial mews, and became a constellation. 

X Oli'jcetJie. The descendants of Oligaethus formed a tribe at Corinth, 
to which the hero of this ode belonged. 



ODE XIII.] OLYMPIC ODES. 249 

A word the copious tale shall tell 
Pledged on mine oath : the Herald's tongue 

Hath at those games with cheering swell 
Full sixty glorious times their triumph rung. 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

Their past Olympic feats have graced my song ; 

The future in their joyous day, 

Hope's promise, shall the Muse display : 
But fortunes and events to heaven belong. 
Smile but their natal genius from above, 
The rest to Mars we'll trust, and ruling Jove. 

Yet must I name their Pythian boughs, 
Their wreaths from Thebes,* from Argos brought : 

And Jove's Lycsean altar knows 
Their countless wonders in Arcadia wrought : 

EPODE v. 

Pellene too, and Sicyon, 

And Megara, and illustrious Marathon, 

Eleusis, and the fenced Grove 
Of ^Eacus, and Eubcea's Isle, 

And all the prosperous states, above 
Whose walls huge ^Etna lifts her towering pile, 

All Greece their boundless praise proclaim. 

Teach them, Great Jove, with meekness graced 
To tread the dazzling paths of Fame, 

And Fortune's choicest gifts to taste. 

* For the games at Thebes, Argos, in Arcadia, at Pellene, Megara, 
Eleusis, and Marathon, see Olymp. ode vii. antistro. v., and Olymp. ode 
ix. stro. and antistro. iv. At Sicyon there were games in honour of the 
Pythian Apollo, at JEgma, of ^Eacus, at Geraestum in Eubcea of Neptune, 
and at Syracuse, in imitation of the Isthmian and Nemean. 



250 



ODI 



ODE XIV. 

TO ASOPICHUS THE ORCHOMENIAN, 

Victor in the Single Foot-race run by Boys. 



STROPHE I. 

ye, that by Cephisis' waves* profuse 

Dwell on the banks with steeds and pastures fair, 
Illustrious queens of proud Orchomenus, 
Listen, ye Graces, to my prayer — 
Ye, whose protecting eyes 

The Minyans' t ancient tribes defend ; 
From you life's sweets X and purest ecstasies 
On man's delighted race descend. 

* Cephisis 1 waves. Orchomenus was situated, not only near the river 
Cephisus, but near the lake Cephisis, called afterwards Copai's. See 
Pyth. ode xii. antistro. ii., where Pindar calls the sacred ground of the 
Graces the rsfxevog of Cephisis. The temple at Orchomenus dedicated 
to these goddesses was built by Eteocles, an ancient king of that city, 
where (as Dr. Clarke shows from the inscriptions, which he had the 
good fortune to discover in a monastery there, Trav. vol. iv. p. 156) 
public games in honour of them, called Charitesia, were celebrated, of 
which neither Potter nor any other writer has made mention. There 
was a temple of the Graces also at Olympia, containing their three 
statues made of gilded wood, with the faces and the feet of marble, one 
of them holding a rose, and another a myrtle (plants sacred to Venus), 
with a Cupid on the same base. — Pans. lib. vi. c. 24. 

f The Minyans. The Orchomenians were called the Minyans, from 
Minyas, their ancient king, from whose daughters the principal heroes 
engaged in the Argonautic expedition, and thence also called Minyans, 
were descended. — Pyth. ode iv. ep. iii., and Apoll. Rhod. lib. i. 229. 
Minyas was famous for his wealth, and for a treasury which he erected, 
called by Pausanias one of the wonders of Greece, and compared by him 
as such to the Pyramids of Egypt. It was a circular building of stone, 
ending in a top not very pointed, with a keystone that held the mass 
together. — Paus. lib. ix. cc. 36, 38. It existed in the second century, 
and there are some remains of it at this day. — Dodw. Trav. vol. i. 
p. 230 ; Clarke's Trav. vol. iv. p. 168 ; with which latter learned obser- 
ver I cannot agree, that the words Kopvfyrj ds ovk iq ayav 6£u dvny\ikvr\ 
(i. e. the top not brought up to a very sharp point), used by Pausanias, 
import that the covering of this ancient edifice was a dome. The wealth 
of Orchomenus, to which Thebes was once tributary, is alluded to by 
Homer as proverbial in the days of Achilles. — II. ix. 1. 381. He also 
calls it the Minyeian Orchomenus. — II. ii. 1. 511. 

+ From you life's sweets, <tc. See a similar sentiment Olymp. ode ix. 
ep. i. Spenser also has introduced them in his Fairy Queen : 



ODE XIV.] OLYMPIC ODES. 251 

Genius, and Beauty, and Immortal Fame, 
Are yours : without the soft majestic Graces 
Not e'en the gods in their celestial places 
Or feast or dance proclaim. 

Raised are their thrones on high 
Beside the Pythian lord* of day, 
That bends the golden bow ; where they 
All pastimes and solemnities above 

Blissful dispense, and sanctify 
Th' eternal honours of Olympian Jove. 



STROPHE II. 

August AglaTa, blithe EuphrosynS, 
Daughters of Heaven's resistless king, 
And thou, that lovest the liquid lay, 
Thalia, hear my call, and see 

The choiring minstrels on their way, 
By favouring fortune wooed, 
With festive steps advancing : I to sing 
Asopichus in Lydian moodt 



The first of them, hight mild Euphrosyne, 

Next fair Aglaia, last Thalia merry, &c. 

Sweet goddesses all three, &c. 

These three on men all gracious gifts bestow 

Which deck the body or adorn the mind, 

To make them lovely or well-favour' d show, &c. 

Book x. cantos 22, 23. 

* Beside the Pythian lord, &c. The station and functions assigned by 
this passage to the Graces leave scarcely a shade of difference between 
them and the Muses ; and it is not impossible that they were once con- 
founded, the latter being originally no more in number than the former, 
when Otus and Ephialtes sacrificed on Mount Helicon, and consecrated 
that mountain to the three Muses. — Pates, lib. ix. c. 29. 

f Lydian mood. Pindar selects the Lydian melody, accompanied 
with a lighter movement, as more suited to the triumph of a youth. — 
See note on Olymp. ode i. antistro. i. 

So also Spenser — 

And all the while sweet music did divide 
Her looser notes with Lydian harmony. 

Fa. Qu. b. iii. c. i. v. 40. 



252 OLYMPIC ODES. [ODE XIV. 

And laboured measures come ; 

For Minya* from th' Olympian shrine 

Bright victory bears thy gift divine — 

Go now, sweet Echo t of my lyre, 
To pale Proserpine's melancholy dome 

With thy proud tidings to the Sire ; 
Tell Cleodamus,^: that his youthful son 
In Pisa's glorious vale the braid 

From Jove's illustrious games hath won 
And twined the plumes of conquest § round his head. 



* Minya, or Minyeia, an ancient name for Orchomenus, of which 
Minyas was king. 

+ Sweet Echo. This sudden apostrophe to Echo, so much admired by 
the readers of the original, was perhaps obtruded on the poet's mind by 
an unperceived association ; for the fable was, that Echo, the daughter 
of the Air and Earth, was enamoured of Narcissus, the son of the river 
Cephisus, near whose waters she resided ; so that the idea of her might 
easily mix itself with the praises of the youthful victor of Orchomenus. 

X Cleodamus, the father of Asopichus, who being dead is thus made 
to derive a sort of posthumous glory froin the merits of his son. 

§ The plumes of conquest. A similar expression occurs in the last 
line of the ninth Pythian ode. Perhaps the poet meant by this expres- 
sion to denote the leaves of the wreath with which the victor was 
crowned ; or perhaps he might have alluded to the wings which adorn 
the statue of Victory in the Temple of Juno, in the Altis at Olympia. 
— Pans. lib. v. c. 17. 



PYTHIAN ODES, 



ODE I. 

TO HIERO THE MISMAS,* 

Victor in the Chcvriot-race. 



STROPHE I. 

Golden Lyre,t Apollo's care, 
Thy aid with violet tresses % crown'cl, 

Their emblem thee, the Muses share : 
The bounding dance obeys, and joy pursues the sound. 



* This ode is inscribed to the same Hiero, on whom the first Olympic- 
ode was written. In this, however, he is styled the iEtncean, as he was 
in that the Syracusian, having expelled the ancient inhabitants of 
Catana, and peopled it with a numerous colony from the Peloponnese 
and elsewhere ; at the same time giving it the name of iEtna, from the 
adjacent mountain, for which act, unjust as it appears to us, he expected 
heroic honours at his death. — Diod. Sic. lib. xi. c. 49. With this clue 
the reader will perceive with how much skill the poet has selected the 
various flattering topics which compose this magnificent ode. This vic- 
tory was obtained in the 29th Pythiad, corresponding with the third 
year of the 77 th Olympiad. 

f Golden Lyre. That Pindar should begin with an address to the 
golden lyre an ode written in honour of a king, who was a proficient on 
that instrument (see Olymp. ode i. antistro. i.), on his victory at the 
Pythian Games, of which its inventor was the patron deity, is a choice 
worthy of his taste and genius. 

% Violet tresses. The word in the original, io7r\oKayLtoc, as lotoarpvxoQ 
in the sixth Olympic ode, antistro. ii., signifies hair of a violet, or dark 
colour, that flower being very dark like the hyacinth, as we collect from 
Theocritus. 

The violet, too, is dark, and the letter'd hyacinth. 

The yellow and purple violet, so beautifully described in the third antr- 
strophe of the same ode. was probably what we call the heartsease. 



254 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE 

Thy signal wakes the vocal choir, 

"When with the sweet preamble's * lingering lay 

Thy frame resumes its thrilling sway. 
The lanced lightning's everlasting fire 

Thou hast extinguish'd,t while by thee 
On Jove's own sceptre J lull'd the Feather'd King 

Forgets his awful ministry, 
And hangs from either flank the drooping wing : 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Thou his beaked crest around 
Hast pour'd the cloud of darkness soft, 

And o'er his beaming eyeballs bound 
The lock of thy sweet spell : slumbering he sits aloft 



* Preamble sweet. The word dfitoXag in the original, denotes the 
symphony or introductory music, alluded to by a similar expression in 
Homer, Odyss. i. 1. 155, noticed by the commentators, and in Theocritus, 
Idyl. vi. 1. 20, and Idyl. viii. 1. 71. Milton also has expressed it with 
seeming allusion to this passage in his most classical and beautiful 
manner, 

Then crown'd again their golden harps they took, 
Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side 
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet 
Of charming symphony, they introduce 
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high. 

Par. L. b. iii. 1. 369. 

The shafts (KrjXa) of music mentioned just afterwards by Pindar, might 
possibly have presented imperceptibly to the mind of our divine poet 
the first hint that led to this exquisite comparison between the harp 
and quiver. 

+ Thou hast extinguished. The power of music is here represented 
as capable of extinguishing the lightning; this, however, is' effected, as 
it should seem, by its lulling the eagle, the bearer of the thunder of 
Jupiter. 

J On Jove's own sceptre, &c. Pausanias mentions a statue of Jupiter 
at Olympia, seven cubits high, dedicated to him by the people of Leon- 
tium ; in its hands an eagle and the bolt of Jove, according to the de- 
scription of it by the poets, lib. v. c. 23. Whether this statue was there 
before Pindar's time does not appear ; Phidias, however, who was pos- 
terior to him, has placed an eagle on the sceptre of his Jupiter in the 
Olympian temple, probably following the master of lyric poetry in this 
respect, as he did Homer in the majesty of this celebrated figure. — 
Paus. lib. v. c. 11. 



ODE I.] PYTHIAN ODES. 255 

"With ruffling plumes and heaving spine 

Quell'd by thy potent strain.* The furious Mars 

Aloof hath left the bristling spears, 
And with thy soft mellifluous anodyne 

Soothed his relentless heart ; for even 
The gods themselves thy searching shaft subdues 

By skill'd Latoidesf aim'd in heaven, 
Framed in the bosom of the swelling Muse. 

EPODE I. 

But those, whom all-discerning Jove 
Abides not, shudder at the sound 
The chaste Pierian Damsels move, 
On earth or in the restless wave, 

Or where in durance underground 
The god's presumptuous foe 
Lies, hundred-headed Typhon ; $ whom the cave 

Far-famed by Tarsus bred,§ now stretch'd below 

* Strain. The word in the original is pnrcticn, impetu, the stroke of 
the shafts of harmony, as some interpret it : may it not rather mean 
impetu aurarum tuarum ? and serve to explain what Virgil meant by 
" vento " in the line — 

Atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis. — Geo. iv. 1. 484. 
t Latoides. The son of Latona, the Greek patronymic for Apollo. 
The reader will observe how large a portion of this passage Gray has 
translated and adopted into his ode on the Progress of Poesy. 

X Typhon, said by Hesiod to have been the youngest son of Tartarus 
and the Earth. — See Theogon. 820, et seq. where a description is given 
of this monster, which seems to belong to the personification of a 
burning mountain. Homer has placed the bed or den of Typhon 
in Arimi : — 

Earth groan'd beneath them, as when thundering Jove 
On Typhon wrecks his vengeance from above 
Deep-couched in Arimi, and all around 
Smites with his lightning's lash the quaking ground. 

II. ii. 783. 
Virgil, Ovid, and other Latin poets (adopting, as Clarke supposes, 
some popular misjunction of the words riv Aptjuoic), have placed the bed 
of Typhon in an island off the coast of Campania called Inarime (now 
Ischia), in the midst of which there is said to have been formerly a vol- 
cano. Pindar, as we see, followed and imitated by ^Eschylus (Prom. 
359—373) and Ovid (Met. v. 346), has chosen Mount ^Etna for this 
demon's bed and prison. 

§ By Tarsus. Thus also Milton, after Pindar and iEschylus (Prom. 
359) :— 



256 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE L 

"Where Cuma's beetling sea-cliffs* frown ; 

"While on his broad and shaggy breast 
Sicilia's regions rest, 
And hoary JEtna, pillar of the sphere, 
"With her bleak snows through all the year 
Cursed in her angry arms, presses the monster down : 

STROPHE II. 

Bursting from whose cavern'd side 
The living fountains waste their way 

Of unapproachable fire ; whose tide 
With clouds of smouldering fume bedims the sultry di 
Reddening at night th' inflamed flood 

Bolls off the lifted rocks, and down the steep 

Plunges beneath the bellowing deep. 
Meanwhile that Serpent t from his dungeon rude 

Sends his dread fire-spouts to the air, 
Yulcanian streams portentous to behold ! 

Strange e'en the traveller's tongue to hear 
Of sights and sounds so dire the tale unfold ; 

A2JTISTROPHE II. 

How on ^Etna's burning base 
Beneath her dark umbrageous head 

Chain'd and immured the rugged place 
Gores all Ins writhing bulk, that rues that restless bed. J 

or TyphoD, whom the den 






By ancient Tarsus held. — Par. Lost, b. i. 200. 
* Cuma's heetling sea-cliffs. These cliffs hanging over Cuma, near the 
promontory of Misenuro, are also similarly described by Juvenal : — 

The cliff with uptum'd eyes from Cuma view'd. — Sat. vs.. 57. 
Cuma is not far from Inarime ; Pindar, therefore, by placing Typhon 
under Cuma and Mount -cEtna also, has embodied Homer's story with 
his own. Yirgil, giving Typhon to Inarime, as before observed, has 
committed Enceladus to Mount JEtna. — icn. hi. 57S. 

f That serpent. So also, on the authority of Hesiod, Milton has 
described this strange monste:- : — 

Not Typhon huge, ending in snaky twine. — Hymn Nativ. 226. 
+ That restless bed. Virgil gives him the same accommodation at 
Inarime : — 

Inarime's uneasy couch of stone 

By Jove's command on huge Typhosus thrown. — ^En. vs.. 716. 
Those who wish to compare this noble description of Mount iEtna with 



ODE I.] PYTHIAN ODES. 257 

Grant me, Great Jove, thy smiles to know, 

Lord of this mountain, whose high front commands 

In circuit wide th' abundant lands ; 
Graced with whose name* the bordering state below 

Shares its great founder's large renown, 
By herald's voice at Pytho's listening games 

Declared ; while Hiero's chariot-crown, 
A monarch's meed, th' inspiring note proclaims. 



EPODE II. 

From heaven a fresh propitious gale 

With ardent prayer the seaman craves, 
To wing with speed his parting sail ; 
"While Hope a prosperous course foretells 

From that good presage o'er the waves : 
Thus blest with omen fair 
Of earliest fame, while ^Etna's realm excels, 
The Muse her future glories shall declare ; 
Her gorgeous feasts, her coursers proud, 

Her choirs to chant the victor's lay — 
O thou, whose radiant sway 
Delos and Lycia rules ;t whose haunt is still 
The mount that pours Castalia's rill ; 
Accept thy suppliant's prayer ; her streets with heroes crowd. 



those of other poets, none of whom have equalled it, are referred to 
Georg. i. 473; Mn. iii. 577; Lucr. lib. vi. 683 ; Ovid. Met. lib. v. 346; 
and Gray's Latin Fragment on Mount Gaurus, a mountain produced by 
volcanic means in a single night. 

* Graced with whose name; alluding to the circumstance of Hiero's 
having given the name of JEitna, to Catana. It appears by this passage 
that he caused himself to be proclaimed on his victory at the Pythian 
Games as an iEtnaean. This vanity, however, was of short duration, 
the original Catanians having returned after his death, demolished his 
sepulchre, and expelled the inhabitants who had supplanted them. — 
Stra. lib. vi. 411, 412. 

t Delos and Lycia rules. Apollo's supposed birth in the island of 
Delos, and his temple and worship there, are well known. How he 
acquired the name of Lycian is not settled, whether fiom his being 
worshipped in Lycia, a nation of celebrated archers in Asia Minor, so 
called from Lycius, the son of Pandion, who settled there (Pans. lib. i. 
c. 19); or from his being worshipped as the destroyer, Xvkwv, of wolves; 

S 



258 PYTHIAN ODJE55. [ODE I. 



STROPHE III. 

Good the gods alone dispense , 
All arts, all worth from them we trace ; 

And Wit, and Might, and Eloquence 
Are but the gifts divine of bounteous Nature's grace. 
But thou this prince's praise to sing 

Intent, as some the brazen javelin wield,* 

Urge not thy song beside the field, 
But forward far, where rivals ne'er can fling. 

Unchanging Fortune's golden shower, 
"With Yirtue's goodlier boon, the cloudless mind, 

Time on his state benignant pour, 
And calm Oblivion shade the toils behind. 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

Still shall Memory's rolls attest 
The wars he waged, the fields he won, 

While patient bravery nerved his breast ; 
What honours sent from heaven around their temples shone, 



or from the magnificent temple dedicated to him under that title by 
Danaiis at Argos {Paus. lib. ii. c. 19) ; or from his being considered as 
the god of light (Xuk/), lux, diluculum), as Mr. Blomfield thinks, JEsch. 
~Rirra. gloss. 136. I have thought it best to adopt the first of these 
suggestions, following Horace, the safest expositor of Pindar, who seems 
to have had this passage in his mind when he wrote the following stanza, 
where all the titles here given to this deity are introduced : 

He in Castalia's fountain fair, 
Apollo, laves his flowing hair, 
His Patara's Lycian forest loves, 
His natal isle and Delian groves. 

Rot. b. iii. ode 4. 

* The brazen javelin wield. This is an allusion to the exercise of 
throwing the javelin at the games, where he who threw the farthest 
was the winner, provided that it did not pass the lateral lines on the 
right hand or the left, to which the field of contest was confined. Thi3 
was practised at least as early as the time of Homer, and, according to 
bis testimony, at the funeral of Patroclus. — II. xvi. 589 ; xxiii. 886. 






ODE I.] PYTHIAN ODES. 259 

By Grecian hand ne'er pluck'd before, 

To crown their wealth a glorious diadem.* 
His dauntless mind with pangs extreme, 

Though rack'd, war's toil, like Philoctetes, t bore : 



* A glorious diadem. The Syracusians, as West informs us, conferred 
by one decree the throne of Syracuse on Gelon, and his brothers Hiero 
and Thrasybulus. Diodorus, however, says, that after Gelon's celebrated 
victory over the Carthaginians at Himera, he prepared to assist the 
Greeks against the Persians ; but being informed of the battle of Sala- 
mis, and the consequent retreat of the invaders, he summoned his men 
in arms to an assembly, at which he himself appeared unarmed, and 
gave them an account of his past conduct, with which they were so gra- 
tified that they unanimously proclaimed him their benefactor, their 
saviour, and their king. — Diod. Sic. lib. xi. c. 26. 

T Philoctetes. He was the son of Paean, a native of Meliboea, and the 
friend of Hercules, who gave him his arrows at his death, without which 
the Delphic Oracle pronounced that Troy could not be taken. He 
commanded seven ships in the Trojan war, but receiving from one of 
the arrows a wound in his foot, which was thought incurable, remained 
at Lemnos till the last year of the war ; when the Grecian chiefs, having 
been instructed by the oracle, brought him from Lemnos to the Trojan 
plain, where he was cured by Machaon, and contributed to the capture 
of that city. — II. ii. 718 ; Soph. Philoct. ; Ov. Met. xiii. 401. Our poet 
has likened Hiero to Philoctetes, whom he resembled not in the nature 
of his malady, which was the stone, but in the circumstance of his 
having, when afflicted with it, gone into the field of battle, and over- 
come the enemy. The allusion to Philoctetes still appears remote ; it 
seems to me, however, that it may be thus accounted for. Anaxilaiis, 
king of the Ehegians, situated at the foot of Italy, having (as the Scho- 
liast tells us) threatened to attack the Locrians, the latter applied to 
Hiero, by whose interference (as we learn from the Pythian ode ii. 
p. i.), the project was abandoned. To this circumstance Pindar alludes 
in the next two lines, and was thereby reminded of Philoctetes ; for 
these Locrians, according to Yirgil, had settled in Calabria ; where 
Philoctetes landed after the fall of Troy, and built the little city of 
Petilia. We shall remember that the prophet Helenus, being consulted 
by ^Eneas as to his future course, enjoins him to avoid the coast of Italy 
opposite Epirus, and gives the following reasons : — 

Shun the dread walls with Greeks malignant fill'd ; 
Narycia's ramparts there the Locrians build ; 
There stern Idomeneus with Lyctian lines 
Holds in close siege the rustic Salentines ; 
There humbly rear'd by Meliboean bands 
On Philoctetes 1 wall Petilia stands. — JEn. iii. 402. 
S2 



260 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE I. 

Princes his aid with flattery sought, 
And wooed, by Fortune press'd, his saving power. 

'Twas thus th' Hellenian heroes brought 
From Lemnian rocks, in Troy's disastrous hour, 

EPODE III. 

Psean's brave son, with wasting wound, 

Though weak and worn, whose fatal bow 
Razed Priam's Ilion to the ground. 
He closed the lingering toils of Greece, 

With powerless frame advancing slow ; 
For such was Fate's decree. 
Thus may some healing god henceforth increase 
Great Hiero's weal, and Opportunity* 
Wait on his wish ! — For young Dinomenest 

Wake now, my Muse, thy cheering lyre, 
And sing the conquering sire ; 
By sire like him quadrigal chaplets won 
Grieve not, I ween, th' aspiring son ; 
Wake, then, for Etna's king thy grateful minstrelsies. 

STROPHE IV. 

Blest with freedom, heav'n bestow'd, 
For him sage Hiero plann'd the place, 

And building on th' Hyllsean code^ 
Founded their polity. The free Pamphylian race, 

* Opportunity. Pindar often dwells on the importance of opportunity, 
called Kaipbg by the Greeks, Olymp. ode ii. antistr. iii. There was an 
altar to this deity at the entrance of the Olympic stadium, which he no 
doubt had often seen ; and it is called by Ion, a Chian poet, the 
youngest of the sons of Jupiter. — Paus. lib. v. c. 14 ; Pyth. ode iv. 
antistr. xiii. ; Pyth. ode ix. str. iv. To which let me add the imputation, 
which Shakspeare has so justly cast upon this divinity. 
Opportunity, thy guilt is great ! 

'Tis thou, that executest the traitor's treason : 
Thou sett'st the wolf, where he the lamb may get : 
Whoever plots the sin, thou point'st the season ; 
'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason ; 
And in thy shadowy cell, where none may spy her, 
Sits Sin, to seize the souls, that wander by her. — Tarqui. and Lucr. 
+ Young Dinomenes. The son of Hiero, named after his grandfather, 
and, as it appears from the Scholiast, appointed as prefect, or viceroy of 
^Etna. 

X Th' Hyllcean code. Hyllus was the son of Hercules, by Melite, who, 



ODE I.] PYTHIAN ODES. 261 

From great Alcides sprung, that dwell 

On the green skirts of high Taygetus, 
Still hold th' iEginiian law, the Dorian use. 

They from the cliffs of Pindus issuing fell 
On sack'd Aniyclse's prosperous plain, 

By whose famed border the Tyndarean host 
Their milk-white steeds illustrious train ; 

Such martial sires the tribes of JEtna boast. 



ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Mighty Jove, to those, that live 
By fruitful Amena's* murmuring tide, 

Subjects and prince, like freedom give, 
By Truth's unerring rule their faultless course to guide. 
Inspired by thee, by practice sage, 

His son's, his people's steps the sire shall lead 
The tranquil paths of Peace to tread. 
Bid, son of Saturn, the Phoenicians' t rage 



after the death of Hercules, "being driven by Eurytheus from the Pelo- 
ponnese with the other descendants of his father, retired to Attica ; 
from whence having afterwards made an incursion into the Peloponnese, 
he was killed by Echemus of Tegea (probably the same who conquered 
in the game of wrestling at the first Olympiad (Olymp. ode x. stro. iv.), 
in single combat and buried at Athens. — Apoll. PJiod. lib. iv. 539 ; 
Paus. lib. i. c. 41. On that event the remainder of the Heraclidse 
again left the Peloponnese, and settled among the Dorians, under 
^Egimius, and his son Pamphylus, near Pindus and Mount iEta. From 
thence they made a second incursion into the Peloponnese, seized Amyclse 
near Sparta, and finally settled themselves under the directions of the 
Delphic Oracle, in Laconia and Messenia at the base of Mount Taygetus 
(Pytk. ode v. stro. hi.) ; from whence the town of iEtna was colonized. 
Taygetus is a very lofty mountain, and almost perpendicular on the 
eastern side, stretching northward from the Gulf of Tsenarus, to the 
Arcadian mountains, and forming with the rocks and glens about it, the 
most picturesque and beautiful scenery in Greece. — Stra. hb. viii. p. 
557 ; Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 409, 410. The descendants of Castor and Pol- 
lux, who were born at Amyclse, settled in the Argive territory, and 
conseq\iently had the Dorians and Heraclidse for their neighbours. 

* Amena was a river of Sicily, on the banks of which the town of 
zEtna stood. 

t The Phoenicians', the Carthaginians, defeated by Gelon, at Himera, 
in a great battle ; as the Tuscans were afterwards near Cuma by Hiero, 
who took the part of the Cumseans. This is another instance in which 
Hiero is made a partaker in the fame of Gelon. 



262 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE L 

In calm domestic arts subside, 
Yon Tuscan rout remember in retreat 

Their comrade's groans on Cumae's tide, 
"With tarnish'd ensigns strew'd and foundering fleet. 

EPODE IV. 

Such was the wild promiscuous wreck 
Wrought by the Syracusian stroke, 
Whose captain from the towering deck 
Dash'd to the deep their vanquish'd throng, 

And knapp'd in twain the barbarous yoke. 
When Athens asks my praise, 
From Salamis * I'll date the swelling song ; 

Cithseron's* field the Spartan's fame shall raise, 
Where Persia's boasted archery t fell : 

But when, Dinomenes, the lyre 
Thy conquering sons;}; inspire, 
Oh, then, from Himera's banks the glittering bough 
I'll pluck to plant on Virtue's brow, 
And bid those echoing shores their foes' disasters tell. 

* Salamis. Cithairon's field. The battles of Salamis, in which the 
Athenians, and of Plataea, near Mount Cithaeron, in which the Spartans 
were so much distinguished. 

f Persia's boasted archery. So iEschylus calls this victory ro^ocafivov 
"Aptjv.—Persce, 88. 

£ Thy conquering sons ; Gelon and Hiero, the sons of Dinomenes. It 
seems from this passage as if Hiero had served under Gelon, in the 
battle of Himera against the Carthaginians. Diodorus tells us that 
Hamilcar, having lost in a storm (not in a sea-fight), his horse and 
chariots, landed at Panormus, refreshed his men, repaired his fleet, and 
proceeded, the latter accompanying him, to the siege of Himera. He 
there encamped his land-forces, drew his long ships on shore, and forti- 
fied them with a deep ditch and a wooden rampart, and commenced 
hostilities against the town. Upon this, Theron, the governor of 
Himera, sent in his alarm to Gelon, who marched immediately by land 
to his assistance with five thousand horse and fifty thousand foot ; and by 
an admirable stratagem, of which the historian gives a most interesting 
account, contrived to send a division of his horse, pretending to be Seli- 
nuntian allies, within the wooden rampart of the enemy, surprised and 
killed Hamilcar, set fire to the fleet, and slew or took prisoners all the 
Carthaginians, except some who, crowding into twenty of the long 
ships, that could not be drawn on shore, made their escape and foun- 
dered in a storm. It is the battle of Himera, and that only, which 
Pindar has compared to those of Salamis and Plataea ; conformably 
with which Diodorus himself tells us, that * many historians paragon 



ODE I.] PYTHIAN ODES. 



STROPHE V 

Wouldst thou foil the censurer's sneer, 
Thy copious theme in narrowest pale 

Confine ; nor pall th' impatient ear 
That throbs for fresh delights, and loathes the lengthening 
tale. 
With forced applause, with grief profound, 
The vulgar audience listens to the lays 
That swell the prosperous stranger's praise : 
Yet since the flatterer Envy's deadliest wound 
Pains not the brave like Pity's tear, 
Cling thou to Good ; thy vessel's martial throng 

With the sure helm of Justice steer 
And on Truth's anvil steel thy guarded tongue ; 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

Sparks of mischief struck from thee 
Spread far and wide th' authentic flame : 

Thousands observe thy sovereignty ; 
A thousand listening ears bear witness to thy shame. 
If yet Fame's dulcet voice to hear 

Thou long'st, still crown'd to stand at "Virtue's post, 
Oh ! shrink not from the worthless cost ; 
But, like a brave and liberal captain, spare 
Thy spreading canvass to the wind. 
Trust not, my friend, to Flattery's ill-bought breath : * 

Glory, whose living lamp behind 
Departed mortals gilds the shrine of death, 



the battle of Himera to that of the Grecians at Platsea, and the strata- 
gem of G-elon to the counsels of Themistocles," who planned, as we all 
know, and gained the victory at Salamis. — See Diod. Sic. lib. xi. cc. 20, 
21, 22, 23. We are told that Gelon, after this battle, sent to the Del- 
phic Temple of Apollo a golden tripod, worth sixteen talents (Diod. Sic. 
lib. xi. c. 33) ; is it unreasonable to suppose, that the offering mentioned 
by Pausanias was transmitted on the same great occasion to the treasury 
at Olympia ? 

* To Flattery's ill-bought breath. I have followed Heyne and Damm 
in this translation of KipStoiv ii)Tparrk\oiQ ; but I am by no means clear 
that the poet did mean to say, " Don't be deluded by the fascinations of 
gain," as Benedict inte«-prets it. 



264 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IL 



EPODE V. 

Bids History's pomp on Goodness wait ; 

And rouses the rewarding strain 
To sound the triumphs of the great. 
Still Croesus* lives for kindness blest : 

On Phalaris,t whose remorseless reign 
The bull and torturing fire 
Upheld, the curses of all ages rest : 

Him nor the festive band, nor cheering lyre, 
Nor youths in sweet communion joined 

With fond remembrance hail ! — Above 
The goodliest gifts of Jove 
Fortune the first, Fame claims the second, place ; 
The man whose grasp, whose filled embrace 
Both Fame and Fortune holds, life's noblest crown has 
twined. 



ODE II. 

TO THE SAME HIERO, 

Victor in the CJiariot-race, * 



I 



STKOPHE I. 

Great Syracuse, the splendid shrine 

Of battle-breathing Mars, 
Nurse of illustrious chiefs divine, 

And steeds that pant for iron wars i 

* Croesus, the celebrated king of Lydia, the patron and friend of Solon, 
distinguished not more for his immense wealth than for his kindness and 
liberality. 

f Phalaris, a tyrant of Agrigentum, who tortured his victims by in- 
closing them in a brazen bull heated for the purpose ; and in which he 
was himself destroyed by his indignant people. 

% The commentators are not agreed as to the games at which this 
victory was won, except that it was not at the Pythian ; it being referred 
by different persons to the Olympic, the Nemean, and the Panathenaic ; 
to which Heyne doubtingly adds the Isthmian, the statues of Diana, 
-Mercury, and Neptune, who are all mentioned in the first antistrophe, 



ODE II.] PYTHIAN ODES. 265 

To thee, from glorious Thebes, my strain I bear, 
The conquering chariot's harbinger ; 
Wherein with fourfold team, that shook the thundering 
plain, 

Thy Hiero won the dazzling braid, 
And crown'd Ortygia in her humid fane, 

Seat of the watery Dian ;* by whose aid 
With glittering rein and lenient hand he broke 
His youthful coursers to the yoke. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

For oft the virgin Queen, that aims 

The silver shafts of light, 
Oft Mercury guardian of the games t 

Plies with prompt hands the trappings bright ; 



being in the Isthmian temple {Paus. lib. ii. c. 2) ; but he answers this 
supposition by remarking, as another reason why the poet might have 
introduced them, that Neptune was the god of horses, Mercury of games, 
and Diana worshipped at Ortygia. Of course no reason can be given 
why this is classed among the Pythian Odes. 

* Ortygia, seat of the watery Dian. There were three places called 
Ortygia, each connected with Diana ; in one of which she is stated by 
different authors to have been born. The first of these was the Isle of 
Delos, called anciently Ortygia, as in Virgil : Linquimus Ortygiae portus 
(J5n. iii. 124) ; the second was a beautiful grove, near the Temple of 
Ephesus, where the goddess was said to have been born of Latona, and 
to have been nursed by Ortygia, from whom the grove was named. — 
Stra. lib. xiv. 947, 948. Callimachus refers Apollo's nativity to Delos, 
but says nothing of Diana's. Homer describes Latona as having pro- 
duced Diana and Apollo, 

Her in Ortygia, him in rocky Delos. — Hymn. Apol. 14. 
From which passage it is plain that Homer did not consider Delos as the 
birthplace of Diana ; but whether he meant the Ephesian or Syracusian 
Ortygia, does not appear. The goddess had certainly a temple in the 
latter place, which being called in the first Nemean Ode Si/xviov 
'AortixiSog and AaXov Kaatyvrira > the bed of Diana, and the sister of 
Delos (anciently Ortygia), was, as the Scholiast on that passage says, re- 
garded by some as the birthplace of that goddess, and might have been 
by Pindar annexing in his manner the fable to the name. 

+ At the entrance to the Olympic Stadium there was an altar to 
Mercury by this title, 'Epfiov ivayuviov, whose statues were nume- 
rous by the sides of the roads in that district : and at the mouth of the 
river Alpheius, there was a grove and temple of Diana (Chandler, vol. ii. 
323), which will account for the union of these two deities in this ode. 



266 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE II. 

When to the burnish'd car he joins the speed, 
The vigour of the rein-led steed, 
And calls the wide-domain'd and trident-sceptred god. 

The tuneful strain, fair Virtue's meed 
Others on other monarchs have bestow'd ; 

As oft the Cyprian minstrels wake the reed 
.For Cinyras * (whom Phoebus golden-tress'd 
With pure celestial love caress'd, 

EPODE I. 

And Yenus made her priest and paramour) ; 
Such strain to thee for favour found 
Each grateful heart shall pour, 
Son of Dinomenes ! mark how, thy praise to sound, 
Seated before her peaceful cot, 

The Locrian damsel t trolls her lay, 
With looks secure, her fears forgot, 

And foes, thy power hath frown'd away. 
That moral to mankind, 
As story tells, by heaven enjoin'd, 
Round on his restless wheel for ever roll'd 
With warning voice Ixion £ told, 

" With warm returns of gratitude 
u Requite the bounties of the good." 



* Cinyras. He was a king of the island of Cyprus, the son (accord- 
ing to the Scholiast) of Paphos and Apollo, and the high priest in the 
Temple of Venus, which he is said to have erected. To account for this 
abrupt introduction of the name of Cinyras, the Scholiast says, that 
Dinomenes, the father of Hiero, derived his origin from Cyprus, and 
had introduced from thence the worship of that goddess into Sicily. 

+ The Locrian damsel. This alludes to the security which Hiero had 
conferred upon the Locrian inhabitants of Calabria, by deterring Anaxi- 
laiis, king of Rhegium, from hostilities, which he had threatened to 
commence against them. 

+ This account of the punishment of Ixion is familiar to the reader. 
His history, according to the Scholiast, is, that having married Dia, the 
daughter of Deioneus, king of Phocis, and being compelled by his father- 
in-law, who ought to have given a dowry with her, to pay him one 
instead, invited him as to a banquet, and threw him into a pit, which he 
had filled with fire for the purpose. The rest of the gods having turned 
against him for this murder, Jupiter, in pity for him (as the Scholiast 
Bays, but enamoured of his wife Dia, on whom he begot Pirithous, as 
Homer tells us, II. xiv. 317), absolved him from the crime, and took 



ODE II.] PYTHIAN ODES. 267 



STROPHE II. 

Fatally learnt ! A life of bliss 

With Saturn's sons lie led ; 
"Whose heavenly friendship used amiss * 
To madness fired his impious head : 
What time the matchless consort of high Jove 
He tried, by blind presumptuous love 
To that wild outrage moved. Full soon the just return 

A strange unpractised pain he bore, 
Two bold misdeeds condemn'd at once to mourn : 
For he, a hero deem'd, with kindred gore 
His hands had stain'd, and first by fraud design'd 
The foulest murder of his kind ; 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

He to the secret bower unseen, 
Jove's genial chamber, stole, 
And tempted there the eternal Queen — 
O, could man's wit his wish control, 
His true dimensions learn ! t A host of woes 
Unlicensed Lust's indulgence knows ! 



him up to heaven, where Ixion in return, attempted the chastity of 
Juno, and was punished for his alleged ingratitude in the manner men- 
tioned in the text. Homer (probably for the reason above mentioned) 
makes no mention of Ixion in his account of the great delinquents in the 
shades below. Virgil confirms Pindar's story in the fourth Georgic, 
where he describes the music of Orpheus, 

And at his strain Ixion's wheel stood still. — L 484. 

It is, however, observable, that in the sixth .iEneid, 1. 601, &c, the 
same poet has assigned to Ixion all the different punishments by others 
accumulated upon Tantalus. 

* A similar sentiment with regard to Tantalus will be found in 
Olymp. ode i. ep. ii. 

f His true dimensions learn : imitated by Horace — 

Wouldst thou live well ? thy true dimensions find, 

The gauge and measure of thy means and mind. — Ep. 1. i. 7. 

And Juvenal — 

In all thou dost, thy first thy least concern, 

The measure of thyself, thy limits learn. — Sat. xi. 36. 



268 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE II. 

Witness this thoughtless dupe, that wooed a shadowy cloud, 

And made th' enchanting cheat his bride : 
Fair, heavenly fair, like Saturn's daughter proud, 

Look'd the bright form Ms baseness to deride ; 
So well Jove's art had wrought the nattering bane. — 
Now in his quadri-radiate chain, 

EPODE II. 

(Rack self- devised) * inextricably bound 
He with stretch'd limbs and doleful cry, 

Deals his sad precept round. 
Meanwhile with love unblest that air-drawn effigy 
In solitude her single birth 

Monstrous produced : the graceless child 
No reverence found in heaven or earth. 

Now " Centaur " t named, with passion wild 
The mateless male assails 
Magnesian mares in Pelion's vales : 
Whence sprung th' unnatural breed, whose wondrous kind 
Their parents' twofold form combined ; 

The dam their baser parts confess'd, 
The statelier father crown'd the crest. 

STROPHE III. 

Thus to perfection X God could bring 

Whate'er his will design'd — 
God, that o'ertakes the eagle's wing 
And leaves the dolphin's haste behind 
In the mid sea ; whose chastening hand hath bow'd 
The lofty spirit of the proud, 

* Rack self-devised. It was part of Ixion's punishment to make the 
engine of his own torture, a wheel with four spokes, on which his limbs 
were stretched. 

T Centaur. It is evident that Pindar did not regard this issue of 
Ixion and the cloud as that biform animal, which we call a Centaur, but 
the mixed species which he produced. 

X Tfius to perfection, <kc. The sentiments contained in this and the 
six following lines, are so much in the spirit and manner of the sacred 
writers, and so little to be expected in this place, that it is difficult to 
conceive from whence this poet borrowed them, or how he could have 
fallen accidentally on so close an imitation. See also the fourth epode 
of this ode. 



ODE II.] PYTHIAN ODES. 269 

And given to modest worth th' imperishable crown — 

But here th' unseemly tale * we close, 
"Warn'd by th' example past and ill renown 

Of starved Archilochus, whose verse morose, 
Whose malice was his feast. The stores be mine 
Of wealth and genius to combine. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

The first kind Fortune's gifts afford 

Thy liberal hand around 
Largely to lavish, sovereign Lord 

Of states and hosts with glory crown'd. 
He that from ages past asssumes to name, 
From all the flower of Greece, in fame, 
Honours, possessions, power, a prince surpassing thee, 
Yaunts with false heart and idle tongue. — 
O ! for a bark t upon the boundless sea 

To range at large, when Virtue swells my song, 
And spread, if bravery be the boast of youth, 
Thy glory from the strain of Truth : 

EPODE III. 

She sawj the band to thee, the squadron yield, 
And thy green arm from manhood tear 

The trophies of the field. 
Unrisk'd, unbounded praise thy sager counsels share : 
All forms of fame thy deeds attend ; 
Hail to thy greatness ! o'er the sea 
Like rich Phoenician stores § I send 

My freight of eulogies for thee. 
Accept with favouring eye 
Our rich Castorean minstrelsy : || 

* TIC tmseemly tale. See Olymp. ode i. ep. ii., where KaicayopwQ is 
used in the same sense as KaKayopiav is here. 

+ 0/ for a bark, &c. See Olymp. ode xiii. stro. iii. 1. 3. 

+ She saw, &c. This is probably an allusion to the exploits performed 
by Hiero when under the command of Gelon. 

§ Phoenician stores. The Scholiast supposes that Pindar meant to 
hint that he expected, like a Phoenician merchant, to make a profit by 
his poetical consignment. 

|| Castorean minstrelsy. Why Pindar calls this Castorean, or what he 
means by the expression, the commentators do not inform us. Some 
suppose it to mean a war-song, or measure invented by, or for Castor ; 
others a song accompanying the dance in armour : I rather think, on 



270- PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE II. 

Touch'd on th' j93olian chord its notes will fire 

With raptures high the sev'n-toned lyre. 
But praise on Apes * let boys bestow, 
Keep thou the course thy virtues know : 

STKOPHE IV. 

Thus wisest Bhadamanthus f won 

The reverence of mankind ; 
The fruits of conscience all his own ; 
No flattering falsehood lured his mind ; 
Wherewith, the sufferer's and the listener's bane, 
"Weak ears intriguing whisperers gain, 
Detraction's pilfering priests, that live on calumnies, 

Filching like foxes in the dark — 
Yet what the gain their treacherous trade supplies ? 

Like the dull net % flung from the seaman's bark, 
They drudge beneath the deep, while o'er the tide 
My buoyant corks untarnish'd ride. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

No hold the slanderer's word can take 

On Virtue's generous heart : 
Yet fawning, flattering all, they make 
The mischief, that sustains their art. 
Boldness like theirs I boast not, to my friend 
Most friendly ; to my foes constrain'd 



comparing this passage with the first epode of the first Isthmian, that it 
means only a song in honour of the victor in the chariot-race, such as 
was sung for Castor. 

* The remainder of this ode is supposed to refer to Bacchylides, a 
contemporary poet, who envied Pindar, and who had calumniated him 
to Hiero, who was at war with Theron, the father of Thrasydaeus, Pin- 
dar's friend. What reliance, however, we can place on the Scholiast, 
whose account this is, and who in his note on 1. 97, describes Bacchylides 
as a person who always traduced Hiero, and in his note on 1. 131, as a 
person who was in great esteem with Hiero, the reader will determine. 

t Rhadamanthus, a Cretan, said to have been the son of Jupiter, and 
for his justice on earth, to have been made one of the judges in the 
shades below. See Olymp. ode i. ep. iv. 

% The dull net, &c. Ovid has almost translated this 



While to the deep the loaded nets subside, 

Mark how yon cork swims lightly on the tide. — b. iii. El. iv. L 12. 



ODE II.] PYTHIAN ODES. 271 

I am a foe, a wolf, that hunt them everywhere, 

And by blind paths my prey surprise. 
Truth in all states her fearless front may rear ; 

Whether proud kings, or fierce democracies, 
Or sapient peers the public weal maintain. 
Strive not with God ; thy rage is vain ; 

EPODE IV. 

He for wise ends the virtuous magnifies, 
Or deigns the worthless head to raise 

With glory to the skies. 
Still Envy rests not here : in faithless scale she weighs 
Her weak pretence 'gainst Merit's claim, 

And in the struggle to be blest 
Oft guides the wandering poniard's aim, 

E'en to her own unguarded breast. 
'Tis temperate Wisdom's care 
With light contented heart to beai 
Life's galling yoke.* To kick the pointed goad,t 
And wound the heel, yet keep the load, 
Is the fool's cure. Be mine to use 
Virtue's sweet converse and the Muse. 



* Life's galling yolce. Juvenal (Sat. xiii. 22) has also copied this. 
Nor those unblest, who, tutor'd in life's school, 
Have learnt of old experience to submit 
And lightly bear the yoke they cannot quit. — Gifford. 
t To hick the pointed goad. See Acts Apost. c. ix, v. 5 ; JBsch. Ag. 
1614 ; Eurip. Bacch. 794, where the same proverb is expressed in the 
words used by Pindar, irpbg Kevrpa XaKTt'Cuv. 



272 PYTHIAN ODES. ToDE in. 



ODE III. 
TO THE SAME HIERO, 

Victor in the Horse-race* 

STROPHE I. 

O ! that good Phillyra's benignant son, 
Old Chiron, t from Uranian Saturn sprung 
(If without blame a minstrel's tongue 
With the world's prayer may blend his own), 
Could from the dead return, to reign 
O'er Pelion's peaceful vales again, 
And bear once more the generous mind, 
Brute though in form, to bless mankind ! 
Such, as when erst his fostering care 
The hero iEsculapius J bred ; 

Who first taught pain the writhing wretch to spare, 
Touch'd by whose healing hand the pale diseases fled. 



* The Scholiast tells us, that Hiero gained two victories at the 
Pythian Games in the horse-race, one in the twenty-sixth, the other in 
the twenty-seventh Pythiad ; and adds that he was not king of Syracuse 
till the twenty-eighth Pythiad, corresponding with the seventy-sixth 
Olympiad, for the purpose of fixing the date of this ode, in the fourth 
strophe of which he is so described. I see no allusion, however, in this 
ode to two victories, as the Scholiast supposes. 

f Chiron, called by Homer the most just of the centaurs, is here 
described to be the son of Phillyra and Saturn. He was said to have 
lived in a cave upon Mount Pelion, to have been eminently skilled in the 
art of healing, and to have educated iEsculapius, Jason, and Achilles. 
That wild abode is now, as Mr. Dodwell tells us, " beautifully varie- 
gated with groves and gardens, and glittering with towns and villages." 
See his interesting description of the adjacent scenery, Trav. vol. ii. 87, 
as also of the Centaurs sculptured on the Theseion and Parthenon, 
ib. 366. 

$ JEsculapius, whose birth is here described, as in Hesiod's Frag- 
ments, 204, is said to have resided at Epidaurus, in the Peloponnese, 
near which he had a temple always filled with invalids, and dedicatory 
tablets or pillars, on which the diseases and cures of the convalescent 
were recorded. This temple, in which there was a statue of iEscula- 
pius of gold and ivory, the celebrated theatre and tholus built by Poly- 



ODE III.] PYTHIAN ODES. 273 



ANTISTROPHE I. 

Him Phlegyas' daughter* bore ; who midst the throe, 
While Illthyia t watch'd her matron cries, 
Pierced with the thrilling dart that flies 
From stern Lucina's golden bow, 

Changed by Apollo's power o'ercome 
Her painful chamber for the tomb. 
So fearful 'tis for man to move 
The vengeance of the sons of Jove, 
She in her frailty's wanton mood 
The bright-hair'd God's approach repell'd 

(Whose love so late her wavering heart subdued) 
E'en while his heavenly seed her genial bosom swell'd : 

EPODE I. 

She to her sire unknown a prince^ adored. 

No more the bridal feast § or damsel train 
She reck'd ; she stay'd not till they pour'd 

In melting choir their hymeneal strain, 



cleitus, the stadium, &c, stood in a sacred grove or consecrated circuit, 
surrounded by a belt of hills ; of which Pausanias gives an interesting 
account too long to be extracted (lib. ii. c. 27) ; but which the reader 
will find much pleasure in comparing with the accurate descriptions and 
plates of their remains, with which our industrious and learned country- 
men have obliged us. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 257 ; Clarke's Trav. vol. iiL 
620 ; Gell's Itin. 104. 

* Phlegyas' daughter, Coronis, the mother of iEsculapius, whom she- 
brought forth at Epidaurus. 

+ Illthyia, the goddess of parturition, expressed by Homer in the 
plural number, and called by him, as well as Pindar {Nem. ode vii. stro. 
i.), the daughter of Juno. She is the same with Eleutho, and not easily 
distinguishable from Lucina or Diana. — Paus. lib. vii. c. 23. 

X A prince adored, i. e. Ischys, the son of Eilatus, and consequently 
the brother of that iEpytus, king of the Arcadians at Phsesana, to 
whom Pitana intrusted the education of Evadne. — Olymp. ode vi. 
antistr. ii. 

§ The bridal feast. This feast was given at the bridegroom's house, 
partly for convivial purposes, but chiefly in honour of the Gods of Mar- 
riage, who were invoked on the occasion, and as a means of announcing 
the nuptial union to the friends and relations, who were numerously in- 

T 



274 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE III. 

Or to soft airs for maiden meet 

Warbled their wonted vesper sweet. 

Her thoughts on absent raptures rove, 

The torturing dream of all that love. 
Fond mortals thus the gifts refuse 

Of tendering Fortune with disdain ; ' 

While Hope some distant trifle views 

And hunts the flying prize* in vain. 

STEOPHE II. 

That fatal fault within her alter'd breast 

The fair Coronis nursed : away she threw 
Her virgin robes, and madly flew 

To clasp her loved Arcadian guest : 

Unmark'd not of the Seer divine,t 
Whose victims heap the Pythian shrine ; 
There throned within his temple pale 
Sage Loxias knew th' unseemly tale, 

By sure direct communion taught 
The glance of his omniscient mind : 

Falsehood beguiles not him ; nor act, nor thought, 
Nor man, nor potent God his searching sight can blind. 



vited (AthencB. lib. v. c. 1, and Pind. Olymp. ode vii. stro. i.) ; during 
which the marriage-songs, or hymenaei, were sung. For a full account 
of the ancient Greek marriages, see Pott. Antiq. b. iv. c. 11 ; with 
which it may amuse the reader to compare the account of an Albanian 
marriage given by Mr. Dodwell, where the feast and hymeneal song still 
formed a part of the solemnity. — Trav. vol. ii. p. 24. 

* The flying prize. This passage will remind us of Polypheme's self- 
admonition, and Horace's much closer parallel. 

milk the present ewe * 

Why one, that flies thee, wilt thou still pursue ? — Id. xi. 75. 

His game through wintry snows the sportsman chased ; 

Yet scorns to touch it on the table placed ; 

Such is my love ; the maid with asking eyes 

It passes by, and follows her that flies. — B. i. sat. 2. 
+ The Seei" divine, Apollo ; whose means of intelligence as here 
described are worthy of a god. 



ODE III.] PYTHIAN ODES. 275 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

Thus, while on love Eilatian Ischys bent 

He view'd, his feign'd pretence and deed unchaste, 
To Lacereia's towers* in haste 
The god his vengeful sister t sent, 

Where rose by Bcebias' distant flood 
Th' afflicted maid's forlorn abode, 
Now by the Power, whose baleful sway 
Lured her from Virtue's paths to stray, 
Shamed and destroy'd. The demon's ire 
E'en 'mongst her friends th' o'erwhelming ill 

Diffused ; as. from one spark $ the gathering fire 
Spreads through the distant woods, and strips th' umbrageous 
hill. 

EPODE II. 

Now when by kindred hands the damsel lay 

Stretch'd on the pile sepulchral, and the flames 
Ran round ; " Mine offspring thus to slay 

" My soul shall ne'er endure," the god exclaims, 
" Nor leave its parent's pangs to share." 
Thus briefly, from the lifeless fair, 
Whom with one pace he reach'd (the pyre 
Self-opening to the saving sire), 



* Lacereia's towers. This was a town in Thessaly, lying on the lake 
Boebeis, which lies near Pherae (as Homer also tells us, II. ii. 711), and 
the confines of Mount Pelion. It is mentioned by Apollonius Bhodius, 
lib. iv. 616, but not by Strabo, in whose time it had probably acquired 
the name of Larissa, lib. ix. p. 666, note. For a description of this 
region, see Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 93, et seq. 

t His vengeful sister, Diana, who would not only feel for Apollo, but 
for the wrongs of injured chastity, of which she was the goddess. 

+ As from one spark, dec. Thus expanded by Virgil : — 

Oft from the heedless herdsmen drops a spark ; 
That harbour'd first beneath the unctuous bark 
Seizes the wood, and to the foliage flies 
Aloft, and roars and crackles to the skies ; 
High o'er the branching tops victorious reigns, 
And all in flame involves the sylvan plains. 

Georg. book ii. 308. 
T 2 



276 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IIL 

Away the struggling child he bare, 

And bade the Pelian Centaur sage * 

Store its young mind with precepts rare 
Disease and mortal pain to 'suage. 

STROPHE III. 

All those, whose sickly temperaments betray'd 
The natural sore ; all whom the griding sword, 
The whirling rock, had crush'd or gored ; 
All whom the blistering flames had fiay'd ; 

All through whose limbs keen winter's breath 
Had blown the drowsy chill of death ; 
(Whate'er the pang their frames endured) 
Each of his several bane he cured. 
This felt the charm's enchanting sound ; t 
That drank th' elixir's soothing cup ; 

Some with soft hand in sheltering bands he bound, 
Or plied the searching steel and bade the lame leap up. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Yet Wisdom's self the lust of gain betrays : 
Him too Corruption with her rich reward, 
Her glittering gilded hand, ensnared 

With impious art the dead to raise. J 

* The Pelian Centaur sage, Chiron, who lived on Mount Pelion : in 
the original he is called the Magnesian Centaur ; but Pelion was in 
Magnesia, as Homer tells us. — II. lib. ii. 756. 

f The charm's enchanting sound, incantations, mentioned also by 
Homer : — 

With incantations stopp'd the sable blood. — Odyss. book xix. 457. 

% The dead to raise. Hippolytus, having resisted the addresses of his 
stepmother Phaedra, was falsely accused by her to his father Theseus, of 
having made an attack upon her chastity (a story much resembling those 
of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, and of Bellerophon and Sthenobcea) : for 
this he received the curses of Theseus, who believed the story, and was 
soon after dashed from his chariot and killed, his horses being frightened 
at a sea-monster sent by Neptune for the purpose. iEsculapius, how- 
ever, for some great reward (as Pindar here informs us, and which 
appears, from Pausanias, to have been an offering of twenty horses), 
restored him to life ; for which presumptuous act Jupiter struck him 
with the lightning, and sent him to the shades below. The recovery of 
Hippolytus, as above stated, was attested by an inscription upon an 
ancient pillar, near the temple of the latter at Epidaurus. — Paus. lib. ii. 



ODE III.] PYTHIAN ODES. 277 

Boused at the deed indignant Jove 
Through both at once his lightning drove ; 
At whose dread shock and instant blast 
From both their breasts the spirit pass'd ; 
So quick the naming courier speeds. 
Pour we to Heaven our humble pray'r, 

And beg the boon our mortal misery needs, 
By sad experience taught of what frail race we are. 

EPODE III. 

Bare not, my soul, immortal life to crave ; 

The practicable good strive thou to gain — 
But O 1 that still yon mountain cave 

Sage Chiron held, where this mellifluous strain 
With tuneful charm his heart might move 
Some healing power to send, from Jove 
Or Phoebus sprung, with spells endued, 
To still the pangs that rack the good.* 

With him the bounding bark I'd mount, 
And ride the rough Ionian wave,+ 

By Arethusa's bubbling fount X 

My kind .^Etnsean host to save : 

STROPHE IV. 

Him Syracuse reveres,§ her lenient king, 

Whose pride ne'er pined at Virtue's just success ; 
Whose love th' unfriended strangers bless 

O ! could I reach thy realm, and bring 

c. 27. The same account is given by Virgil (Jfin. lib. vii. 769), Ovid, 
and others ; to which Spenser has added a dismal picture of the future 
state of iEsculapius, who (he tells us) was chained and imprisoned in a 
dismal cave for this specimen of his medical pre-eminence. — Fa. Qu. b. i. 
c. v. st. 36. With regard to Hippolytus, Virgil tells us, in the passage 
above referred to, that Diana secreted him, and conveyed him to the 
grove of the nymph Egeria in Italy, where, under the name of Virbius, 
he passed the remainder of his days in undisturbed obscurity. 

* TJiat rack the good, alluding to his patron Hiero, to whom this ode 
is written, and who was then afflicted with an excruciating complaint. 

+ Ionian wave. The Ionian sea divides Sicily from Greece. 

J Fount. The fountain Arethusa, at Syracuse, of which Hiero was 
king. The poet's reason for calling him his uEtncean host will be found 
in the notes on the first Pythian ode. 

§ Him Syracuse reveres. Hiero's obligations to our poet will be ap- 



278 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE III. 

Health, golden Health,* with Song to grace 
The wreath that crown'd thy Pythian race, 
(Which late from Cirrhat to thy shore 
The matchless PherenicusJ bore), 
Then should thy glorious minstrel shine 
From far with beams of goodlier light, 

With two such gifts advancing o'er the brine, 
Than yon celestial star to thy rejoicing sight. 

predated by those who refer to the account given of him by Diodorus. 
Contrasting him with his brother Gelon, the historian says, lie governed 
his subjects m a very different manner; for he was violent and avaricious, 
and directly the reverse of his brother in that fairness and honourable in- 
tegrity of character for which the latter was so much distinguished. — B. ii. 
c. 67. 

* Golden Health, &c. Health and Song, Hygeia and Comos in the 
original, that is, the Goddess of Health (by some called the daughter of 
JSsculapius), and the Genius of the triumphal Choir. Pausanias tells 
us, that on each side of the statue of Minerva at Tegea there were sta- 
tues by Scopas, in Pentelic marble of iEsculapius and Hygeia. — Lib. viii. 
c. 47. 

f Cirrha, the ancient seaport of Delphi, from which it was distant 
about eight or ten miles, situated on the Crissaean gulf. Strabo de- 
scribes Crissa as a town on the coast between Cirrha and Anticyra, but 
says that the two former (Cirrha first, as I understand him, and Crissa 
afterwards) were destroyed before his time. — Lib. ix. 640. Yet Pausa- 
nias, who wrote long after Strabo, tells us that Cirrha was still, when 
he wrote, the seaport of Delphi, and supposes it to have been the same 
with Crissa mentioned by Homer (77. ii. 520), in whose works the name 
of Cirrha never occurs. Mr. Dodwell complains that Pindar uses 
Cirrha here synonymously with Delphi, and adds, that " in this manner 
poets but too often throw history and geography into confusion." There 
is, however, no such confusion as Mr. Dodwell has supposed ; the Del- 
phic Hippodrome being (as Pausanias, who visited the spot while it 
existed, tells us, lib. x. c. 37) in the plain between Delphi and Cirrha : 
and as the latter was the seaport of the former, it is the very place from 
which the victor Horse must have been embarked with his crown for 
Syracuse, on a voyage, which the words (3a9i>v rcbvrov Trepdaaaig, 
that close the sentence, show to have been at that moment on the poet's 
mind. 

X Pherenicus. This is the same name which is given by Pindar to the 
horse which won for Hiero at Olympia, in the first antistrophe of his 
first Olympic ode ; and it is therefore probable that it was the same 
horse, although no doubt a name which signifies (< the winner " might 
possibly have been given to two different horses. 



ODE in.] PYTHIAN ODES. 279 



ANTISTROPHE IV. 

But to the Matron Goddess,* in whose praise 
Oft near my portal at the midnight hour 
With Pan their hymns the damsels pour, 
For thee my distant voice I'll raise. 
If, Hiero, thy discernment knows 
The flower on wisdom's word that grows ; 
Oft hast thou learnt from sapient age, 
Guide of thy youth, this precept sage, 
That " with each boon kind Fate bestows 
" Two banes the chastening gods combine," 

Banes to the fool, but blessings to the wise, 
Who clear th' incrusting coil, and bid the diamond shine. 

EPODE IV. 

Thee Heaven hath prosper'd ; for if Fortune's eye 

E'er beams on mortal, 'tis the conqueror King : 
Yet with unchanged, uncloudy sky 

Not e'en for Peleust shone th' eternal spring, 
Nor godlike Cadmus ;t though they heard, 
To that surpassing bliss preferr'd, 
The golden-vested Muses fill 
With' songs of joy their echoing hill, 

Sev'n-portall'd Thebes repeat the strain ; 
When this Harmonia's hand endow'd, 

On that sage Nereus from the main 
Thetis, his glorious child, bestow'd. 



* The Matron Goddess. The Scholiast tells us that there was a small 
temple to the Mother of the Gods near the front of Pindar's house, 
which Aristodemus and Pausanias suppose him to have erected, and in 
which there was a statue to the god Pan. Pausanias calls it the Temple 
of Dindyme'ne, and says that it was near the ruins of Pindar's house, 
and only opened one day in every year, on one of which he happened to 
be present, and saw the statue and throne of the goddess both made of 
Pentelic marble. — Paus. lib. ix. c. 35. 

t Pelms, Cadmus. These names are well known. At the marriages 
of the former with Thetis on Mount Parnassus (again mentioned by 
Pindar in the fifth ]Nenle^.- , ode), and of the latter with Harmonia at 
Thebes, the gods are said to nave been present, and Apollo and the 
Muses to have charmed them with their celestial harmony. 



280 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE III. 



STROPHE V. 

Gods from the spheres came down their feast Co grace, 
"Where they their nuptial gifts from Saturn's sons, 
Ethereal kings on golden thrones, 
Took, and beheld them face to face. 

Thus, for past cares and toils forgot, 
Their hearts corrected with their lot,* 
The smiles of favouring Heaven they found ; 
Sorrow unseen yet hover'd round : 
Cadmus, at life's distressful close, 
His phrensied children's t furies press'd ; 

Though genial Jove one for his consort chose, 
And soothed his power divine on fair Thyone's breast. 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

Peleus, to whom immortal Thetis gave 

One matchless son,^: on Phrygia's fatal plain 
By shaft obscure untimely slain, 
Mourn'd with all Greece his early grave. 

If there be one, whose wisdom crown'd 
Th' unerring paths of Truth has found, 
'Tis his with heart uplift to Heaven 
T' improve the gift its grace has given. 
The winds that sweep the vaulted sky 
Shift every hour their changeful way ; 

And when on man swelling Prosperity 
In all its fulness comes, it will not, must not stay. 

EPODE v. 

Humble in want, in greatness I'll be great, 

Still to my fortune's form I'll shape my will, 

My wit the follower of my fate. 

Should some kind god my lap with affluence fill, 

* Their hearts corrected with their lot. This may allude to soir.e defect 
in the early part of Cadmus' history, who came (perhaps a fugitive) from 
Phoenicia to Thebes, and to Peleus's banishment from ^Egina, for tho 
murder of his brother Phocus. 

t Phrensied children, viz. Ino, Agave, Thyone, or Semele ; of whom 
the two former became insane, and the latter was killed by the lightning 
in the embrace of Jupiter. 

X One matchless son. Achilles, slain before the walls of Troy. 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 281 

To Fame's high peak my hopes aspire : 

Sarpedon and the Pylian sire 

All ages know, to all proclaim'd 

In sounding song by Genius framed.* 
Her title to the breathing lyre 

Virtue in charge securely gives ; 
But rare the hand, whose touch can fire 

Th' immortal strain, by which she lives. 



ODE IV. 

TO ARCESILAUS THE CYRENJSAN, 

Victor in the Chariot-Race.^ 



STROPHE I. 

To-day beside thy friend Arcesilas, 

The steed-renown'd Cyrene'sJ bounteous king, 
Stand, heavenly Muse, his minstrel choir to grace ; 
And swell the gale of triumph, as they sing 
Latona's twins and Pytho's plain ; 
Where, while Apollo fill'd the fane,§ 
His priestess, from her shrine above 
Between the golden || birds of Jove, 

* By genius framed, alluding to Homer's Iliad, in which the names 
of Sarpedon and Nestor, the Pylian sage, are so memorably recorded. 

f This victory was obtained in the thirty-first Pythiacl, that is, in the 
third year of the seventy -ninth Olympiad. 

X Steed-renown'd Gyrenes, &c. Strabo tells us that Cyrene was 
built by Battus, and a colony from Thera, a Laconian isle, formerly 
called Callista ; and that it was celebrated for its fertility and breed of 
horses, just as Pindar has described it (lib. xvii. p. 1194). 

§ While Apollo fill' d the fane. Oi>/c aTrood^iov 'AttoWiovoq tv^ovtoq, 
i. e. Apollo not being absent ; so we have $oi€ov i-Kicn\ir\csavToq, Callim. 
Apol. 13, and"H0ai<n-o£ fiirac!]nioq, Odyss. lib. viii. 293, — Apollo, Vul- 
can, being present, or at home. We have observed in a former note, 
that at the latter end of the spring Apollo was said to visit the Hyper- 
boreans, during which excursion the oracle gave no answers, and was 
said at that time clttoStjuuv. 

|| Between the golden birds, d-c. The Scholiast informs us, that in 



282 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

Decreed, that on yon fruitful coast 

Battus* should plant his alien host 
Embarking from the sacred Isle,+ and found 
The town for chariots famed on Libya's glittering mound ; 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Battus the tenth and seventh J of his line 
Thus destined to fulfil th' eventful word, 
"Which erst at Thera from her lips divine 
The raging daughter of ^Eetes pour'd. 
'Twas thus to Jason's godlike train § 
The Colchian queen || address'd her strain : 

order to ascertain where was the umbilicus, or middle of the world, 
Jupiter despatched two eagles of equal wing at the same time, from the 
east and west, and that they met at Delphi ; to commemorate which, 
two golden eagles were consecrated to Apollo in the temple, between 
which the priestess sat. The reader will, 'therefore, not confound this 
with the deruifia, or upper part of the temple, which lay between the 
aeroi, or tympana, called by Pindar, in the Olympic ode xiii. ep. i., 
oi(i>vu>v (3acn\rja dLSwpov. — See Schol. Soph. (Ed. Tyr. 489. 

* Battus. The colonization of Cyrene by Battus, is related also by 
Callimachus, Hyirm. Apol. Q5. Cyrene was built upon a white round 
hill. 

+ The sacred Isle, Thera, called sacred, as the Scholiast says, because, 
according to the authority of Theophrastus, Cadmus landed there in his 
search after his sister Europa, and erected a temple, or two altars, to 
Neptune and Minerva ; and because, according to Hierocles, the Laco- 
nian colony, that settled there, erected a temple, or sacrificed to Apollo. 
— See Pyth. ode v. antistr. iii. 

X The tenth and seventh, &c. The Argonautic expedition on its return 
from Colchis, touched at Thera, where Medea delivered this famous pro- 
phecy in favour of the seventeenth descendant of Euphemus, who she 
said should go with a colony from Thera to Cyrene. This prediction was 
fulfilled in the person of Battus, who answered that description, and who, 
on consulting the Delphic oracle to know how to cure himself of an im- 
pediment which he had in his speech, was directed in return to go with 
a colony and settle in Libya. Pindar, it will be seen, begins with the 
latter of these prophecies, stating it to be the fulfilment of the former by 
Medea, which he then gives us. 

§ Jason's godlike train, the heroes who accompanied him on the Argo- 
nautic expedition ; among whom were Castor and Pollux, Hercules, 
Orpheus, Peleus, and others of the most distinguished persons of that 
heroic age. 

II The Colchian queen, Medea, whom the poet just before calls the 
raging daughter of iEetes, king of Colchis, from whom Jason, by her 
assistance, had borne away the golden fleece. 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 283 

" Hear, what my labouring soul forebodes, 

" Ye sons of heroes and of gods ; 

"How Epaphus' child* in after-days 

"From this wave-wander'd isle+ shall raise 
"Within the precincts^ of the Ammonian king 
"A root, whence cities proud, and peopled realms shall 

spring. 

EPODE I. 

" They from the Dolphin's puny chase 

" Shall turn, the generous steed to train, 
" Ajid urge for oars the chariot's race 

" With tempest speed and flowing rein. 
" Great parent thus shall Thera§ shine 
u Of mighty states ; so doom'd by pledge divine, 

* Epaphus' child. This means Libya, who was said to be the daugh- 
ter of Epaphus, the Argive (son of Jupiter and Io — Ov. Met. lib. i. 748), 
he having, as we learn from the tenth Nemean ode, stro. i., founded 
many of the ./Egyptian cities, over which country he reigned according 
to the prediction of Prometheus. — JEsch. Prom. 874. 

■f This wave-wander'd isle, akiirXayKTov yag, in the original, which 
words some interpret " this wave-wandering clod." 

$ Within the precincts, &c. This means not within the limits of the 
temple, or sacred inclosure of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, in Libya, 
but within the Libyan region, the whole of which was sacred to that 
god,— 

Between Jove's burning oracle 

And ancient Battus' sacred cell. — Catull. 7. 

This may be collected from the account which Virgil gives us of the 
worship of Iarbas. 

Through all his boundless realms to Jove revered 

A hundred temples huge Iarbas rear'd, 

Himself from Ammon sprung ; to many a god 

A hundred hearths with fires eternal glow'd. — jEn. b. iv. 201. f 

There was at Delphi a statue of Ammon in a chariot, dedicated to 
Apollo by the Cyrensean Greeks. — Pans. lib. x. c. 13. Pindar seems 
also to have been partial to this deity, whose temple at Thebes con- 
tained a statue dedicated by the pious poet. He also wrote a hymn to 
Ammon, inscribed on a triangular pillar, erected there by Ptolemy, the 
son of Lagus, which remained to the time of Pausanias. — Pavs. fib. is. 
c. 16. 

§ Thera was one of the islands called the Sporades in the iEgean 
sea, a little to the north of Crete (see Stra. lib. i. 99, note 4) ; from 
whence the colony with Battus embarked for Africa, and founded the 
city of Cyrene ; wherefore she is here called the metropolis, or great 
parent of states. 



284 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

" When in man's form the social god, 
"Where cool Tritonis pours her issuing lake,* 

" His country's symboll'd soil bestow'd ; 
" From the high prow, that sacred gift to take, 
" Down stepp'd Euphemus ; and consenting Jove 
"Clang'dt the loud thunder from above. 



STROPHE II. 

" 'Twas when the parting crew on Argo's side 

" Their anchor brazen-fang'd, her steady rein, 

" Were fastening — (we through deserts waste and wide 
" Twelve tedious days preceding from the main 
" Our lifted bark laborious bore, 
" Haul'd by my counsels^; to the shore — ) 
"At that portentous hour alone 
" The God came forth : his aspect shone 
" Gracious, as of a reverend man ; 
" And frank and kind his accents ran ; 

" As when some generous lord his entering guest 

" With cheerful welcome greets, and bids him to the feast : 






* Tritonis pours Tier issuing lake. This lake, the goddess of which is 
said by Herodotus and Pausanias to have been the mother of Minerva 
by Neptune (see Stat. Theb. lib. ii. 722, note), is situated in Africa, some- 
where near the Mediterranean sea, into which it appears to have an 
outlet, the sea and outlet being both pointed out by Eurypylus to the 
Argonauts at the same time. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 1572. This story 
of Minerva's genealogy is probably nothing more than this : near the 
lake Tritonis there was a temple to this goddess, from whence her wor- 
ship being imported into Greece, of course by sea, she would be called 
the daughter of Neptune and Tritonis, in the creed of their figurative 
mythology. 

T Clang' d, &c. So Theocritus, imitating Pindar : — 

Thrice the bird of Jove 
Clang'd in the clouds propitious from above. — Id. xvii. 72. 

% HauVd by my counsels, &c. This extraordinary project, executed by 
the Argonauts, of bearing their vessel along the sandy deserts of Libya 
on their backs for twelve days, is referred by Apollonius to the advice of 
Peleus, who directed them to pursue the track of a horse that had risen 
miraculously out of the sea. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 1380, &c. 



, 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 285 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

" Yet briefly (for th' excuse of sweet return 

"Press'd us), 'his name Eurypylus,'* he said, 
'•' ' Sprung from tK immortal Sire wJwse billowy bourne 
" ' Shakes the loud shore;' nor more our haste delay'd, 
" But without parley from the ground 
" Snatch'd the first pledge his friendship found : 
" Forth leapt our hero to the strand, 
" With hand extended grasp'd his hand, 
" And gladly from the tendering god 
" Accepted the propitious clod ; 
" Which late at eve wash'd from the vessel's side 
" Sunk in the brine, they say, beneath the weltering tide. 

EPODE II. 

" Full oft I charged th' attendant band, 
" Now freed from heavier toil or thought, 

" To guard it well ; my vain command 
" Full soon their heedless hearts forgot. 
" Thus on this isle th' immortal seed 
" Of Libya's fortune ere its hour is shed ; 

" For if to Tsenarus't sacred shade 
" Euphemus hence return'd, that mystic boon 

" By Hell's terrestrial gates had laid 
(" Yon godlike prince, steed-mastering Neptune's son, 

* Eurypylus. Eurypylus and Euphemus being both, as appears by 
the second epode, sons of Neptune, the latter was naturally selected to 
accept the symbol of hospitality from the former. On account of their 
descent from the watery deity, Spenser has introduced them at the 
marriage of the Medway and the Thames. 

Eurypylus, that calms the water's wroth, 
And fair Euphemus, that upon them go'th 
As on the ground without dismay or dread. 

Fa. Qu. b. iv. c. 11, s. 14. 
Euphemus is one of the distinguished persons portrayed on the 
ancient chest of Cypselus, the Corinthian king, at Olympia, so minutely 
described by Pausanias, lib. v. c. 17. 

+ Tcenarus was a promontory, on the coast of Laconia, in the Pelo- 
ponnese, where there was a chasm in the rocks, which the ancients both 
Greek and Roman, considered to be one of the gates of Tartarus, near 
which there was a temple dedicated to Neptune (Stra. lib. viii. 558) ; 



286 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

"Whom Tityus'* daughter by Cephisus'f shore 
" Erewhile the famed Europa bore), 

STKOPHE III. 

" Then, when the Greeks went forth, as go they shall, 

" From Lacedsemon, J in the fourth descent, 
* And Argos and Mycenae's swarming wall, 

" His blood had ruled that boundless continent. 
" Now must he raise in strange embrace 
" With barbarous dames § his chosen race ; 

which is no doubt the place by the gate of hell, where the poet meant 
that Euphemus should have deposited Eurypylus's gift, both the giver 
and receiver being the sons of that deity. The existence of the temple 
there was a fact notorious to the Grecian reader, and sufficiently pointed 
at by the epithet of sacred, Upav, annexed to Taenarus. 

This rifted rock, whose entrance leads to hell (Comus), 
is strikingly portrayed by Statius, who thus describes the extraordinary 
altitude of the peak that terminates the cliff: — 

No waving wings ascend 
That towering peak, no murmuring thunders rend ; 
But oft, as day declines, the long-drawn steep 
Floats its vast shade upon the distant deep. — Theb. b. ii. 42. 

* Tityus. This was the person, who, for his attempt on the chastity 
of Latona (see epode v.), was doomed to lie in the shades below, where 
nine acres were covered by his gigantic form, exposed to an enormous 
vulture, that dwelt and preyed upon his entrails m a state of perpetual 
renovation. — Virg. *sEn. vi. 595. Europa, the mother of Euphemus, 
was his daughter. The more celebrated heroine of that name, known 
for her amour with Jupiter, was the daughter of Agenor. Pausaniaa 
tells us that he saw the tumulus of Tityus, near Panopius, in Phocis, the 
circumference of which did not exceed the third of a stadium. — Pans. 
lib. x. c. 4. 

*f* Cephisus. This was the Cephisus that rose near Lilaea, in Phocis, 
and flowed by Orchomenus into the lake Copais. There were others of 
the same name, near Athens, Argos, Sicyon, Apollonia, and in Salamis. 
— See Bodw. Trav. vol. i. 476. 

X From Lacedcemon, &c. From Lacedasmon, Mycenae, &c, the fourth 
generation from Euphemus went forth with a colony to Thera. 

§ Barbarous dames : these were the Lemnian women, who received 
the Argonauts on their return, according to Pindar (below, stro. xii.) ; 
but on their voyage out to Colchis, according to Apollonius Rhodius, 
and having previously destroyed all the men in their island who had 
neglected them, cohabited with the Argonauts, and produced a race who 
afterwards emigrated into Greece in search of their fathers, and laid a 
plan to surprise the city of Sparta. In this attempt, however, they 
were detected, and afterwards sent under the command of Therus, the 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 287 

" That led by Heaven with fortune's smile 
" Shall reach this rude sequester'd isle, 
" And rear a mortal doom'd to reign * 
" The lord of Libya's cloud-black plain. 
" Him with abstruse response and hint divine 
" Heard from the Pythian domes and gold-encumber'd shrine, 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

" Phoebus with fleets and hosts in happier days 

" Shall warn the clime to seek, where o'er the land 
" Saturnian Nilet his fattening moisture lays." 
Such was Medea's lore : th' heroic band 
Speechless in fix'd amazement stood 
Thrill'd at the marv'llous truths she show'd. 
Blest son of Polymnestus,J thee 
Portray'd in that proud prophecy, 
Thee with her sweet spontaneous strain 
The Delphian maid proclaim'd again : 
Three times thy state she hail'd, and gave the word 
That sent thee crown'd away, Cyrene's destined lord, 

EPODE III. 

Thee to that shrine a suppliant sent 

With prayers thy faltering speech to cure — 
Now prospering in the eighth descent 
Still on the throne thy sons endure ; 
Where in youth's prime Arcesilas 
Fresh as the spring his purple flower displays. 

son of Autesion, to the island of Callista, which from thence took the 
name of Thera, and afterwards sent out a colony under Battus, who 
founded the city of Cyrene. 

* A mortal doom'd to reign, &c. Battus, so called from his having an 
impediment in his speech, his real name being Aristoteles ; to cure 
which he consulted the Pythian oracle, which directed him to go to 
Africa, and promised him a kingdom. He followed the divine injunc- 
tion, and meeting with a lion in the desert, made in his alarm an effort 
to call out for assistance, and broke the ligament that had occasioned the 
impediment in his speech, of which he afterwards enjoyed the use. 

■f Saturnian Nile. By some little geographical confusion, so dis- 
tinguishable in this ode, the poet describes the Nile as a river of the 
Cyrenaic region, where Battus landed. 

£ Son of Polymnestus, Battus was the son of Polymnestus. 



288 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

On him with crowns th' Amphictyons* wait 
Giv'n by Apollo for his Pythian race : 

Him to the Muse I'll consecrate ; 
Him and th' all-golden fleece, whose distant place 
"When erst through many a wave the Minyaiist found 
Glories from heaven their temples crown'd. 

STROPHE IV. 

But whence that voyage ? what necessity 

Bound on their hearts its adamantine chain ? 
'Twas Pelias';}: doom by fraud or force to die 
By ^Eolus' renown'd descendants slain. 
For e'en his soul with wisdom fill'd 
The threatening Oracle had chill'd ; 
That, breathed from Delphi's central cave, 
The wood-crown'd Earth's mysterious nave, § 

* Tti Amphictyons. These were deputies varying in number, in the 
time of Pausanias, amounting to thirty, from the Athenians, Boeotians, 
Locrians, Phocians, and many other states of Greece. They are said by 
some to have been originally a political council, instituted by Amphic- 
tyon, the son of Deucalion, who assembled twice in the year at Delphi 
and Thermopylae. They presided at and regulated the Pythian Games, 
as the Hellanodics did the Olympic, and disposed of the prizes, as the 
text imports. — Paus. x. c. 8 ; Chamdl. vol. ii. c. 66. 

T The Minyans, the name by which the Argonauts were known, 
either because many of them were descended from the daughters of 
Minyas, or because many of the Minyans of Orchomenus settled at 
Iolcus, from whence the Argonauts embarked. — Stra. lib. ix. 635. 

% Pelias was the son of Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus, by Nep- 
tune ; Tyro afterwards married Cretheus, the son of iEolus, by whom 
she had iEson, the father of Jason, who was therefore a descendant of 
iEolus. On the death of Cretheus, Pelias usurped the throne, which he 
occupied at the time when Pindar's account begins. 

§ Mysterious nave. Delphi was said to be the middle of Greece and 
of the world, and therefore called 6p(j>a\og, the navel, which is the 
middle of the human frame. There was an o^aXog in the Delphic 
Temple of white marble, upon which were placed the golden figures of 
the two eagles, that met at that spot as before observed. — Stra. lib. ix. 
642, 643, and Paus. lib. x. c. 16. Lactantius and Varro however say 
that ofHpaXoQ was derived from dfxcpal signifying the answers of the 
gods (Pott. Ant. vol. i. 273), showing therefore that this was the place 
of the oracle. Milton, perhaps impressed with the same notion, says 
of Comus (a name, by the way, borrowed from the Comus, Kw/toc, of 
the Games), 

Within the navel of this hideous wood, 

Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, 

Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus. — Line 522. 



ODE IV J TYTIIIAN OS 289 

Bade him with all his kingly care 

The single-sandall'd wight beware, 
Come when he should, stranger or citizen, 
Down from Ins mountain hold to famed Iolcus' glen.* 

AXTISTROPHE IV. 

All at th' appointed time, with ported spears 
In either hand appear'd the dreadful man : 

Shaped in Magnesian guise a garh he wears, 

That round his glorious limbs compacted ran ; 
O'er which a j>ard-skm from the storm 
Shelter'd his stout unshuddering form. 
His mantling locks + unshorn, unbound, 
In nature's wildness waving round, 
Down his broad back illustrious shook : 
Forward all bent on speed he broke, 

Till in the forum halting, calm unmoved 

Amidst th' inquiring crowd his dauntless heart he proved. 

EPODE IV. 

Unknown he stood — " Apollo's mien 

" Is this?" some gazing wonderer cried, 
" Or his, that wooed X the Cyprian queen, 

" Whose reins the brazen chariot guide ? 
" In flowery Naxos ages since 
" Otus and Ephialtes,§ daring prince, 

* Iolcus glen. Iolcus, a town or city of Magnesia in Thessaly, 
where Pelias reigned, was situated near the sea in a vale not far from 
IMount Pelion, where Jason had been clandestinely educated by Chiron 
tie centaur. 

t His mantling locks, d-c. The practice of wearing long hair among 
the Greeks, KaprjKOfioooi'rac, 'Axaiovc, Homer has recorded ; and the 
custom of doing so, particularly behind, prevails especially in the 
maritime countries to this day. as Pindar represents it to have done in 
the days of Jason. — Dodic. Trav. vol. i. 134. Milton seems to have 
had this passage on his mind when he described the angel of the sun : — 
Nor less his locks behind 
Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings 
Lay waving round. — Par. L. b. iii. 628. 
X Or his that icooed, dec, meaning Mars, who, according to Hesiod, 
had two sons by Venus, Fear and Terror. — Theog. 933. 

§ Otus and Ephialtex. These were the sons of Aloeus by Iphimedia, 
who at the age of nine vears were nine cubits broad and nine ells high 

U 



290 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



[ode rv. 



" Iphimedia's offspring died : 
" Tityus,* gigantic form, Diana slew, 

" When from her chaste and quiver'd side 
" Her huntress-bolt th' unconquer'd virgin drew ; 
" That warn'd from joys forbidden t men might haste 
" The practicable bliss to taste." 

strophe v. 

Thus they with vague surmise in crowds discoursed 
Listening and whispering ; when in burnish'cl car 

Pelias with mules all panting thither forced 
His urgent speed. Astounded from afar 
The stripling's dexter ancle round 
He spied a single sandal % bound ; 
Yet with disguised alarm, " Proclaim, 
" Stranger," said he, " thy country's name ; 
" Tell me what matron born on earth 
" From her fair bosom gave thee birth ? 

" Let not the loathed lie thy lips disgrace, 

" But meet my just demand, and frankly tell thy race." 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

Him with undaunted Virtue's accents mild 

Answer'd the youth, " From Chiron's school I come ; 
" The Centaur's daughters nursed me from a child, 
" And good Chariclo § made her cave my home. 
" Now, when by their kind care sustain'd 
" My strength its twentieth year has gain'd, 



They manacled Mars, and' imprisoned him in a brazen dungeon for 
thirteen months ; and, in order to attack the gods, they piled Mount 
Ossa upon Olympus, and Pelion upon Ossa (an enterprise ascribed by 
Yirgil to the sons of the Earth — Geo. i. 280), but were killed in their 
youth by Apollo {11. v. 385 ; Odyss. xi. 307), or, according to the 
Scholiast, through the contrivance of Diana in the island of Naxos, 
one of the Cyclades in the JEgean sea. 

* Tityus. He was destroyed by Diana for attempting the chastity 
of Latona. 

t Joys forbidden. See Nem. ode xi. ep. iii., where a similar senti- 
ment is forcibly expressed. 

X Jason is said to have lost the other slipper in crossing the river 
Anaurus, near Iolcus. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. i. 1. 9. 

§ Chariclo, the wife of Chiron. 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 291 

" For no foul deed, no phrase unchaste 

" From that sage intercourse displaced, 

" My home I visit, to require 

" The ancient honours of my sire ; 
" Which erst to ruling ./Eolus* and his heirs 
" Jove in his bounty gave, and now th' Usurper wears. 

epode v. 

" He by perverse ambition stung 

" The traitor Pelias, as 'tis said, 

" Their sceptre from my parents wrung, 

" Which they by right with justice sway'd. 
" They on my birth's eventful day 
" Dreading that lawless ruler, in dismay 

" My death pretended, and prepared 
" Domestic semblance of sepulchral rite ; 

" And female moans and sighs were heard : 
" Me swathed in purple, to the secret night 
" Trusting their silent path, in Chiron's care 
" They placed, the nurturer of their heir. 

STROPHE VI. 

" Such is my tale — Good people, tell me true — 

" My fathers rode the milk-white steed t — where stand 

" Their stately towers 1 — 'tis ^Eson's son ye view ; 
" I come no alien to a stranger's land : 
" My godlike host, the centaur Seer, 
" The name of Jason bade me bear." 
Thus spake the youth : his father's glance 
Discern'd far off the son's advance, 
And the big tears of ecstasy 
Came bubbling from his aged eye, 

So swell'd his bursting heart with joy to find 

His lost illustrious boy the comeliest of mankind. 

* JEolus, the father of Cretheus, who was the father of ^Eson, the 
father of Jason, who therefore was heir to JEolus after iEson's death, 
and of course entitled to the throne, which Pelias had usurped. 

f The milk-white steed. White horses were the accompaniments of 
pre-eminence, and were therefore used on triumphal occasions by the 
Romans ; as white asses belonged to persons in great authority among 
the Jews ; e. g. " Speak ye that ride on white asses ; ye that sit in 
judgment." — Judges v. 10. 

v2 



292 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 



ANTISTROPHE VI. 

Thither in haste, allured by Jason's fame, 

His reverend uncles, from the neighbouring bowers 

By Hypereia's fountain, Pheres* came, 

Came Amythaon from Messenes towers. 
Admetus and Melampus too 
To greet their glorious kinsman flew. 
"With welcome warm arid sumptuous feasts 
Jason regaled his honour'd guests, 
And freely without change or check 
Threw loose the reins on Pleasure's neck : 

Five days and nights in sympathy of soul 

Pluck'd they the laughiug flowers, that crown the social bowl. 

EPODE VI. 

On the sixth morn his plan proposed, 

Its cause, importance, means, and bent 

To all his kin the youth disclosed. 

Forthwith they sallied from their tent, 
In haste for Pelias' mansion bore, 
And now already stood within the door. 

The soft-hair'd Tyro's t artful son 
Spontaneous rose to meet the martial throng ; 

When with mild air and soothing tone, 
Dropping sweet words that melted from his tongue, 
Jason the conference raised on Wisdom's base : 
'•' Hear thou, Petrsean Neptune's race, j 

* Pheres and Amython, or Amythaon, were sons of Cretheus and 
younger brothers of iEson, Jason's father, by Tyro the daughter of 
Salmoneus, who, before her marriage with Cretheus, had by Neptune 
Peiias and Neleus. Admetus was the son of Pheres and Melampus of 
Amython, both consequently Jason's cousins. Pheres is supposed by 
Apollodorus, lib. i. c. 14, as quoted by Mr. Dodwell, vol. ii. 95, to 
have been the founder of the town of Pherse, now called Belestiua. in 
the middle of which (as Mr. Dodwell says) rose the pellucid fountain 
of Hypereia. 

f The soft-hair'd Tyro's, &c. She was the daughter of Salmoneus, 
and lingering near the banks of the river Enipeus, of whom she was 
enamoured, fell in with Neptune, who, assuming the form of the 
Eiver God, allured her to his arms, and made her the mother of Pelias 
and Neleus. — See Odyss. xi. 234, et seq. 

X Pctrcean Neptune, so called from Petra, an Ha?monian town in 
Thessaly, where games were celebrated in honour of the god. 



ODE 1V.1 PYTHIAN ODES. 293 



STROPHE VII. 

" Prone is man's mind from Honour's arduous way 

" To verge into the tempting paths of gain, 
" Rough in th' advance and leading far astray : 
" But thine and mine it must be to restrain 

" Our wrath, and weave our future weal. 

" I speak to ears, that heed and feel. 

" One parent's womb, thou knowest, of yore 

" Cretheus and bold Salmoneus bore ; 

" And we their grandsons thus look on 

" The glory of the golden Sun. 
" But when affection cools, and hateful ire 
" Rankles in kinsmen's hearts, the decent Fates retire. 

ANTISTROPHE VII. 

" Oh ! 'tis not seemly thus with lance and shield 
" That thou and I for honours ancestral 

" Base war should wage. Take all my spacious field, 
" My flocks and brindled herds, I cede them all, 
" Which from my sire thy daring stealth 
" Forced and yet feeds, thy pamper'd wealth. 
" I grudge thee not, and view with ease 
" Thy house enhanced with spoils like these. 
" But what I challenge for my own, 
" My sovereign sceptre,* and the throne 

" "Whereon sat ^Eson, when the law divine 

" His horsemen hosts received, these, Pelias, must be mine 

EPODE VII. 

" These without conflict from thy hand, 

" Lest ill betide thee, yield us back." 
Thus urged the prince Ms just demand ; 
And thus e'en Pelias calmly spake : 
" Thy will be mine : but me the late 
" Remains of life's declining hour await ; 

* My sovereign sceptre. iEschylus has a similar expression . — 
Jlpbg tov Tvpavva (JKrjrcTpa (TvXrjQfjcreTaL ; — Prom. 786. 
But who shall rob him of his sovereign sceptre ? 



294 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

" Thy youth now wantons in the bloom : 
" Thou canst appease the subterranean powers ; 

" The soul of Phrixus* from the tomb 
" Calls me, to bear him from iEetes' towers 
"And seize the ponderous ram's refulgent hide, 
" That saved him. from the raging tide, 

STROPHE VIII. 

" Saved from th' incestuous stepdame's angrier dart. 
" This to mine ear a dream miraculous 

" Hath told : for this have I with anxious heart 
" Castalia's counsels ask'd, that urge me thus 
" Thither with bark and band to speed — 
" Dare thou for me th' adventurous deed, 
" And I will leave thee lord and king : 
" Jove, from whom all our races spring, 
" Be Jove himself f our binding oath, 
" Witness, and warrant of our troth." 

This compact to the chiefs propounded they 

"With full consent approved, and parting went their way. 



* The soul of Phrixus. Phrixus, the son of Athamas, being with his 
sister Helle, persecuted by his step-mother Ino, and being about to be 
sacrificed by his father, fled with his sister on a ram with a golden 
fleece, sent to them by Jupiter, to ^Eetes, the king of Colchis. Helle, 
however, fell into the sea, and was drowned, from whence it took the 
name of Hellespont. Phrixus reached Colchis, and married Chalciope, 
the daughter of iEetes, but was afterwards murdered by the latter, 
who envied him the possession of the golden fleece. To appease the 
soul of Phrixus, Pelias now pretended to Jason, that he was directed 
by the Oracle to make a voyage to Colchis and bring away the soul of 
Phrixus and the golden fleece. The ancients seem to have had some 
notion that the soul was buried with the body. Thus Virgil represents 
iEneas to have deposited in a sepulchre the soul of Polydorus, who 
like Phrixus had been murdered by his host. 

We laid his spirit in the grave. — JEn. iii. 68. 

+ Be Jove himself, &c. Jupiter was the god of oaths. In the 
council-room at Olympia there was a statue of him in that character 
called 'Live, opKiog, Jupiter Horcius, having the thunder in each hand, 
to denote the vengeance of Heaven against perjury. The competitors 
at the games were all previously sworn before this awful statue to 
do nothing contrary to the laws of the Olympic contests. — Pans. 
lib. v. c. 24. 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 295 



ANTISTROPHE VIII. 

His heralds loud now Jason bade proclaim 

The perilous enterprise. Three sons of Jove 
Unmatch'd. in combat at that bidding came, 
The fruits of Leda's, and Alcmena's, love.* 
With these two lofty-crested chiefs 
From Pylus' towers and Tsenarus' cliffs, 
Enthusiasts of renown, and held 
Men of tried heart in valour's field ; 
Euphemus this,t from Neptune sprung, 
That Periclymenus the strong. 
Illustrious Orpheus:}: too, the minstrel's sire, 
Apollo's offspring, came, and smote th' inflaming lyre. 



* Leda's and Alcmena's, meaning Castor and Pollux, the sons of 
Leda, and Hercules the son of Alcmena, by Jupiter. 

t Euphemus, the son of Neptune. Periclymenus was the son of 
Chloris and Neleus, who was the son of Neptune by Tyro. There 
were three cities called Pylus, of one only of which the site is now 
known, viz., of that in Messenia, now called Labarino, opposite the 
islands of Sphacteria. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 346. 

X Illustrious Orpheus. The Scholiast cites authorities to show that 
Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope, and therefore, 
as this may be the meaning of the text, and it is a more poetical 
genealogy than a descent from ^Eagrus, king of Thrace, more usually 
given to him, I have translated it accordingly. Apollonius Khodius 
also includes Orpheus in the Argonautic expedition (lib. i. 25), and 
appeases a quarrel among the chiefs by the intervention of his melo- 
dious strain ; at the close of which the poet thus beautifully describes 
its effect upon the audience : — 

This said, the minstrel sire 
Stay'd his ambrosial voice and soothing lyre : 
They all with heads outstretch'd, as while he sung, 
Still on the tuneful charm unsated hung 
In silent ecstasy ; still listening round 
Felt the soft rapture, that survived the sound. — B. i. 515. 

This passage has been exquisitely imitated by Milton in the begin- 
ning of the eighth book of Paradise Lost : — 

The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear 

So charming left his voice, that he awhile 

Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to him. 



296 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 



EPODE VIII. 

Hermes, that waves tlie golden wand,* 
His youthful sons, Echion fair 

And Erytus, with the vent'rous band 

Despatched, the rough exploit to share. 
Down came the youths, that dwelt below 
Pangasum's wintry base : t for Boreas now 

Pleased with such service, king of storms, 
Sent forth in haste his wondrous progeny 

Zetas and Calais, mortal forms, 
With plume-rough backs and purple wings to fly. 
Juno X their hearts with sweet persuasive zeal 
Inspired to bound on Argo's keel, 



STROPHE IX. 

To court the tempting toil : that none might long 

To waste undanger'd§ on his mother's arm 
Youth without glory ; but his peers among 
Find e'en in death th' inestimable charm 

That cheers the close of Valour. Now 
Iolcus reach'd in godlike row 
Stood the choice crew : Jason their look 
Heroic praised, their numbers took. || 



* That waves the golden wand. — See Odyss. lib. v. 87, where also 
Xpv(j6ppa7rig, the epithet, thus translated, is applied to Mercury. 
With this rod, as Virgil tells us (JEn. lib. iv. 242), he conducted the 
souls of men to and sometimes from the shades below. Erytus and 
Echion were the sons of Hermes or Mercury by Antianira. 

+ Pangoeums winti'y base. Pangseum was a mountain in Thrace, 
which the Greeks, it being to the north of them, supposed to be the 
abode of Boreas. 

X Juno. Bentley supposes that Juno patronised this expedition, 
because the ship was called Argos from the name of the city, where 
she was so particularly worshipped. Homer says, that she was a 
friend to Jason. — Od. lib. xii. 72. 

§ To wade undangered, dec. — See a similar sentiment, Olymp. ode i. 
ep. iii. 

|| Their nvmbers took. This passage seems to have been on Milton's 
mind, when Satan reviewed the evil spirits ; — 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 297 

By auguries* watch'd, by chances cast 
Mopsusf assured of heaven, in haste 
The panting band einbark'd, and from below 
The lifted anchor hung upon the dancing prow. 

ANTISTROPHE IX. 

High on the stern a golden goblet rear'd 

The chief, and to the sire of all the gods, 
The lightning-lanced Jove, his prayer preferr'd ; 

Invoked the powers, that sway the winds and floods, 
The sea's wild ways, the nights forlorn, 
And smiling days, and sweet return. 
Heav'n's prompt assent in accents loud 
Spake the big thunder from the cloud, 
And playful pour'd in volleys bright 
Its fractured beams J of harmless light. 
Paused those rude heroes, by that gleam divine 
And sound ambiguous awed — Mopsus, that hail'd the sign, 

EPODE IX. 

Cheer'd to their oars the rallied crew, 

And with sweet hopes their hearts inspired : 

At their stout stroke the galley flew ; 

Toss'd from their blades the surge retired. 

He through the armed files 
Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse 
The whole battalion views, their order due, 
Their visages and statures as of gods, 
Their number last he sums. And now his heart 
Distends with pride, &c. — Par. L. b. i. 572. 
* Auguries — chances, d'c. Auguries were hints taken from the flight 
of birds, by which the ancient divines conceived that the character of 
a future event might be predicted. The divination by the casting 
of chances was called KXrjpofiavTEia, where the chances of a given 
event or undertaking being prosperous or not were collected by the 
divines throwing dice, pebbles, small bits of earth having certain 
characters upon them, &c, into a box, then supplicating the gods to 
direct them, and deciding by their appearance or order as they drew or 
threw them out.— Pott. Ant. vol. i. 333. 

t Mopsus was not only a prophet, but a hero, and is named by Ovid 
among those who were present at the destruction of the Calydonian 
Boar.— Met. lib. viii. 350. 

X Fractured beams, in the original atcrTveg oT£po7rac airopriyvvntvai, 
as in Lucretius, lib. ii., Abrupti nubibus ignes. 



208 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



[ODE IV. 



Soon by the breathing South impell'd 

To Axine's stormy mouth * their course they held ; 

There to the billowy Neptune rear'd 
A sacred shrine t and altar marbled o'er, 

And made their offering from the herd 
Of Thracian bulls, that pastured on the shore ; 
Then, as the danger deepen'd, all adored 
Of ships and seas the mighty lord ; 

strophe x. 

So their frail bark the justling rocks J might shun, 

Frightful collision ! — Twain, self-moved, they were, 

Alive, with wild rotation whirling on 

Swift as the roaring winds — In mid career 

* Axine's stormy mouth. This was the ancient name of the Euxine 
(the former signifying the inhospitable, the latter the hospitable sea), 
as Ovid tells us : — 

Here on the freezing Euxine's shore I stay ; 
Axine his name, the wiser ancients say. 

Trist. b. iv. El. iv. 56. 

+ A sacred shrine. Among the numerous conjectural accounts quoted 
by Dr. Clarke of the origin of the Upbv in the Thracian Bosporus 
(which some consider to have been the site of the Temple of Jupiter 
Urius, and which Dionysius of Byzantium alleges to have been a fane 
built by Phrixus in his voyage to Colchis), may it not as well be 
supposed to have been the shrine or temple erected to Neptune by the 
Argonauts, preparatory to their entrance into the inhospitable sea ? — 
See CI. Trav. vol. i. p. 680, n. 4, 683, n. 5. 

£ Tlie justling rocks. These were two rocks called the Cyaneae or 
Symplegades, at the entrance from the Bosporus into the Black Sea, 
which were said by the poets to whirl round upon their bases, and to 
crush the vessels that attempted to pass between them. After the 
passage of the Argonauts, however, they are said above by Pindar to 
have been fixed for ever ; in which he is confirmed by Theocritus 
(Id. lib. xiii. 24), Apoll. Ehod. (lib. ii. 606), and by Ovid (Met. lib. xv. 
339). There were erratic rocks called TlXayicTai irerpai, through which 
also, according to Homer (Odyss. lib. xii. 61, 70), and Apollonius 
Ehodius (lib. iv. 924), Jason passed ; but these appear to have been 
situated in the Mediterranean, which the hero is stated by the latter 
poet to have reached by achieving the geographical paradox of sailing 
thither from the Black Sea through the Danube and the Po, the 
streams of which he gravely supposes to have been united. The 
interesting and beautiful account given by him (lib. ii. 551, et seq.) of 
the passage of the Argonauts through the Symplegades is not excelled 
in the whole range of descriptive poetry. 

Milton has fully availed himself of this fearful scene to image the 
perils of Satan's passage from the nether world. — See Par. L. 
b. ii. 1018. 



I 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 299 

The passing demigods before 

Awe-struck they stopp'd and raged no more. 

Now, Phasis reach'd, in converse sweet 

The Greeks and dusky Colchians meet : 

-^Eetes* ruled the barbarous land. 

Then first the Cyprian queen, whose hand 
Points the resistless arrow, from above 
Her mystic Iynxf brought, the maddening Bird of Love, 

ANTISTJEtOPHE X. 

Fast in his quadri-radiate circlet bound, 

Charm of mankind : and incantations strange 

Ebon's sage son she taught, and spells profound ; 
Spells, that Medea's filial faith might change, 
And for fair Greece her feverish heart 
Seduce from that wild beach to part. 
Touch'd by Persuasion's gentle goad, J 
All her sire's arts and toils she show'd : 
Soft oils and antidotes § she gave 
Her Jason's beauteous form to save ; 

* JSetes, the father of Medea, the brother of Circe and the son of 
"HXioc, the Sun, and Perseis the daughter of Oceanus. — Odyss. x. 136 ; 
Hes. Tkeog. 955. 

T lynx. It is not easy to conceive whether this is a bird by some 
means fixed in a small hoop or ring, or merely a toy of that form and 
description. It is used here to denote some implement of allurement, 
by which the enchantress was enabled, with the assistance of prayers 
and incantations, to inflame and pervert the affections of the devoted 
object. The Scholiast on this passage describes the lynx as a hairy 
bird with a long neck and tongue, and possessing the faculty of 
rotating its head and neck, and adds that the female professors of 
amatory witchcraft tie it to a wheel like Ixion, and whirl it round as an 
accompaniment to their incantations ; and that Venus brought it down 
from heaven, as Pindar tells us. The Scholiast on the Nemean 
ode iv. 1. 56, where this word again occurs, tell us that lynx was held 
by some to have been the daughter of Echo, by others of Peitho (Persua- 
sion), and that Juno turned her into a bird for having drugged Jupiter 
to the love of 16. The mention of Peitho a few lines below might lead 
us to suppose that this latter story was familiar to our poet. 

X Persuasion's gentle goad, na<myi. nsiQovg. UetOoj, Persuasion, 
Suadela, was a goddess in the Greek Pantheon. We find her grouped 
sometimes with the Graces, but more usually with Venus, who is often 
attended by the Graces ; Hesiod makes her assist the latter in decorating 
the person of Pandora. — "Epya icai "H/t. 73. 

§ Antidotes, avriTOfia in the original, from tsjxvu), to cut ; cut herbs 
being the early medicines. Hence the phrase eyrt/ivwv dfcoc, prepa- 
ring a remedy. — jEsch. Ag. 10, and Blomf. Gloss. 



300 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

Till all prepared to Hymen's sweet control 
Their mutual loves they pledged and mingled soul with 
soul. 

epode x. 
But when ^etes full in sight 

His adamantine plough produced 
His furious bulls, whose nostrils bright 
Flames of consuming fire diffused, 
Battering the ground with brazen tread ; 
These single-handed to their yokes he led ; 
And steadfast drove his furrow'd line 
Straight through the smoking glebe, severing in twain 

An acre's breadth* Earth's sturdy spine. 
" Let him that ruled your vessel o'er the main 
" Do me this deed," the vaunting chieftain cries, 
" And be th' immortal Felt his prize, 

STROPHE XI. 

" His the rich fleece, that glows with flakes of gold." 
Off, at that challenge roused, his saffron vest 

Flung Jason, and in Love's assurance bold 

Closed on the task : charmed by his bride's behest 
Singed not his frame the raging fire, 
Forward he drags the team and tire ; 
Their necks in close constraint he joins, f 
Stirs with sharp goad their struggling loins, 
And with stout arm and manly grace 
Works out with ease th' appointed space. 

In speechless pang, yet muttering at the sight, 

Aghast .zEetes stood and marvell'd at his might. J 

* An acre's breadth, — opyviav in the original, which some translate a 
fathom's depth ; but the depth to which he ploughed, though it might 
show the strength of the bulls, was no proof of the power of ^Eetes, 
which was effectually tried by his ruling those animals and enduring the 
fire, which they breathed, while he was ploughing an acre of ground. 

+ In close constraint he joins, in the original j3osoig avayicag ivrecri, 
not easy to be literally translated ; but imitated by ^schylus, iiru 
6* 'AvayicriQ zdv Xkiradvov (Ag. 211), — "But wlwn he had put on the 
harness of Necessity." 

% Marvell'd at his might. So Apollonius Rhodius : — 

Qavjxa<T£ d' Aifjrijg cOkvog 'Kvkpog. — Lib. iii. 1313. 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 301 



ANTISTROPHE XI. 

Forth to their gallant chief th' heroic throng 

Stretch'd their glad hands, crown'd him with chaplets 
green, 

And gratulations pour'd from every tongue. — 

Now to the secret haunt, where hung unseen 

The glittering skin by Phrixus spread, 

Sol's wondrous son the strangers led ; 

Nor ween'd that mortal enterprise 

Could from that toil triumphant rise. 

Deep in a dark defile it lay : 

A ravening dragon* watch' d the way, 

In bulk like some huge galley, thick and long, 

With ir'n compact, and work'd by fifty rowmen strong. 

EPODE XL 

But the time urges, and 'twere long 
The vulgar tedious path to tread ; 

I know the readier route of song ; 

And Wisdom follows where I lead. 
Arcesilas, by art beguiled 
The blue-eyed motley serpent Jason foil'd ; 

With stol'n Medea, Pelias' bane, 
The boisterous Ocean cross'd, and Red-sea flood 

To shores, where now th' heroic train 
'Mong Lemnian wives,f stain'd with their husbands' blood, 
Vied for the mantle prize in naked grace, 
And clasp'd them in their warm embrace. 

* A ravening dragon, thus alluded to by Juvenal : — 

Hesperidum serpens, aut Ponticus. — Sat. xiv. 114. 
See also Ovid's narrative of this adventure, Met. lib. vii. 100, et seq. 

f Lemnian tvives. These ladies are said to have murdered all the men 
in their island, except Thoas, the father of their queen Hypsipyle, in 
revenge for their infidelity. The Argonauts, according to Pindar, touch- 
ing there on their return from Colchis, at the time when she was 
solemnising, with games, at which a mantle was the prize, the funeral 
of Thoas, the widows availed themselves of this occasion to continue the 
population of their island. Homer mentions a son of Jason, by Hyp- 
sipyle, called Euneiis, who sent a large supply of wine to Agamemnon 
during the Trojan war. — II. vii. 467. The landing of the Argonauts at 
Lemnos is also described by Statius, Tlicb. lib. v. 335, el seq. 



302 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



[ODE IV. 



STROPHE XII. 

On that famed day or night, by Fate's decree 
'Mong tribes barbarian on a distant strand 

Dawn'd the first beam of thy great destiny. 

There first the race that shall for ages stand, 
Of proud Euphemus * hail'd the day. 
With Spartan dames and customs they 
Mingling and swarming forth erewhile 
Peopled Callista's beauteous isle :t 
From whence thy sires o'er Libya's waste 
Honour'd as gods Apollo placed, 

And gave with counsels just and laws unknown 

Cyrene's realms to rule, and grace her golden throne. 

ANTISTROPHE XII. 

Use now the wit of GEdipus profound — f 

If one with sharpen'd axe and reckless stroke 

Lops as he lists the sightly branches round 

And shames the honours of the spreading oak : 
Though fruit thereon no longer glows, 
Still her proud bulk and strength she shows, 
What time in winter's hour of need 
The crackling hearth her fragments feed ; 
Or stretch'd along § the lengthening row 
Of stateliest columns rear'd below 

* Euphemus. See above, strophe iii. and notes. 

f Callista's beauteous isle. This was the ancient name of Thera before 
the Spartan colony settled there under the command of Therus (the 
uncle of the two first Spartan kings, Eurysthenes and Procles). from 
whom the island took the latter appellation. For the founding of Gy- 
rene by Battus, the ancestor of Arcesilaus, see above, strophe i. and 
notes. 

X Of (Edipus profound. (Edipus, as is well known, was said to have 
solved the celebrated riddle of the Sphinx. The poet, therefore, being 
about to address Arcesilaus figuratively in favour of one Damophilus 
(who had been banished from Cyrene for his share in a sedition against 
the government, and during his residence at Thebes had obtained the 
friendship of Pindar), says to the monarch, ' ' Now use the wit of GEdi- 
pus," i. e. now solve me this riddle. He then, by a sort of parable, 
compares Damophilus to an oak, of which the reader will of course see 
the application. 

§ Or stretch'd along, &c, i. e. the oak becomes the architrave of some 
distant palace ; as Damophilus, forced from Cyrene, becomes at Thebes 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 303 

Some stranger's pressing palace she sustains 

With firm unfailing trunk, forced from th' unshelter'd plains. 

EPODE XII. 

Thou art the leech, the times require, 

And Paean * speeds thy skill profound ; 

With lenient hand, relenting sire, 

Soften and heal thy subjects' wound. 
The worst, the weakest t from its base 
A state with ease may shake ; but to replace 

Th' accomplish'd pile is power indeed, 
Unless some guardian spirit in his love 

Seize the loose helm, the leaders lead. 
For thee that grace the favouring Fates have wove. 
Oh ! dare then for thy loved Cyrenc's weal 
Strain all thy strength, use all thy zeal. 

STKOPHE XIII. 

A goodly messenger, J as Homer sings 

(Heed thou the tuneful sage), acceptance gives 

And estimation to the charge he brings. 

So from her virtuous theme the Muse derives 

a person of consideration, and proves his importance prior to his 
banishment. 

* And Pcean, Apollo, the god of medicine, the patron of Cyrene (see 
Pythian Odes, v. ix.) and of the games, at which Arcesilaus had won 
the prize for which this ode was written ; he, therefore, says the poet, 
seconds thy skill, that is, has supplied me with the opportunity of soli- 
citing thee to heal the wounds of Damophilus, by recalling him, and 
honour thee in doing it. 

t The worst, the weakest, &c. Mr. Burke has adopted this admirable 
remark, perhaps unconsciously, and amplified it in his way. "But is it 
in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed ? your mob can do 
this as well, at least, as your assemblies. The shallowest understanding, 
the rudest hand is more than equal to that task Rage and phrenzy will 
pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and fore- 
sight can build in an hundred years." — Reflections on the Revolution in 
France, Burke's Works, vol. v. p. 303. 

X A goodly messenger, <L-c. The Scholiast quotes the following line, as 
that to which Pindar alludes ; it does not appear to me quite to corre- 
spond with the description of it in the text, but I have searched in vain 
for one more apposite. 

'EuQXbv Kal to TervKrai, or' dyytXog aiaifxa fiSy. — II. xv. 207. 
Tis well when messengers wise counsels hold. 



30-i PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 

Honour and grace. Th' illustrious house* 

Of Battus, all thy realm allows 

Damophilus unmatch'd in truth, 

Generous and just ; 'inong boys a youth, 

In counsel provident and sage 

As one that boasts a century's age. 
He of its sparkling jest the slanderous tongue 
Bereaves : with honest hate he meets th' oppressor's wrong. 

ANTISTROPHE XIII. 

Thus with the wise and good no strife hath he, 

Ardent and urgent of his upright plan ; 
For well he knows, that Opportunity 

("VYhich he observes, not serves) rests not with man 
A moment's pause. 'Tis bitterest pain 
To know, yet need, and crave in vain 
The sweets that friends and freedom give : 
Thus doth this suffering Atlas + strive, 



* House of Battus, the royal family of Arcesilaus, descended from 
Battus. — See above, epode iii. 

T Atlas, said to nave been a king of Mauritania, the son of Iapetus 
and one of the Titans, who made war against Jupiter, by whom they 
were confined in Tartarus, but afterwards, as some say, released. He 
was skilful in astronomy, and therefore fabulously said to have sustained 
the heavens. In this passage Pindar compares Damophilus, standing up 
under the pressure of his sovereign's resentment, to Atlas supporting the 
heavens : and the critical reader will observe with how much brevity 
and effect he has contrived to weave the sentiment and the simile toge- 
ther, so that by uniting them in one sentence and making them par- 
takers in the meaning of the same verb, the resemblance is both 
strengthened and demonstrated. A similar instance of this mode of 
illustration occurs in the beginning of the sixth Olympic ode : — 

Pillars of gold our portal to sustain, 
As for some proud and princely place, 

We'll rear : the founder of the strain 
With far-refulgent front his opening work should grace. 

Horace has followed him in many instances, particularly in his Satires 
and Epistles, lib. i. sat. 2 ; A rs Poet. Shakspeare has discovered or 
improved upon the same poetical beauty in innumerable instances ; for 
example : — 

Sweet are the uses of Adversity, 

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 

Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. — As You Like It. 



ODE IV.] PYTHIAN ODES. 305 

From wealth and kin and country driven, 
Against thy weight, his pressing heaven. 
Yet Jove the Titans loosed, and when the gale 
Vexes the deep no more, we furl the useless sail. 

EPODE XIII. 

Worn out with lingering ills, his prayer 
Is still to greet his native plain, 

By Cyre's fount* the feast to share 

And yield to youth his soul again. 
There rank'd among the minstrel choir 
To touch with gifted hand the burnish'd lyre, 

Warbling in peace his harmless lay, 
Nor offering to his foes nor suffering wrong. 

Oh ! that his lips had power to say 
What recent fountains of ambrosial song 
Flowing for great Arcesilas he found, 
Illustrious guest on Theban ground. 

That strain again ; it had a dying fall, 
O it came o'er my ear, like the sweet South, 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
Stealing and giving odours. — Twelfth Night. 

She never told her love, 
But let concealment, like a worm i' th' bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek. — Idem. 

She pined in thought, 
And with a green and yellow melancholy 
She sat, like Patience on a monument, 
Smiling at Grief. — Idem. 

This figure is used also by Milton, but not so often in the Paradise Lost 
as in Comus, where he follows more the manner of Shakspeare ; for 
example — 

The sea-girt isles 

That, like to rich and various gems, inlay 

The unadorned bosom of the deep. — Comus. 

* Cyre's fount. The fountain of Cyre at Cyrene was sacred to Apollo, 
whose Carneian ceremonies were celebrated there. 



306 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE V. 



ODE V. 

TO ARCESILAUS THE CYRENJEAN, 

Victor in the Chariot-Mace* 

STROPHE I. 

Wealth is wide-extended power, 

Whene'er with genuine worth combined 
Man leads it forth in Fortune's favouring hour 
And friendships throng behind. 
Thee, heav'n-enhanced Arcesilas, 

These gifts through all thy glorious days 
From life's first step, by Castor's t grace, 
Have bless'd ; who now with Pythian bays 
Given from his golden car thy brows hath crown'd : 
'Twas he the threatening storm allay'd 
That shook thy prosperous house and spread 
The cheering calm, that brightens round. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Wisdom still with temperate hand 

Improves the boon by Heaven besfcow'd ; 

And thee, that walk'st with Justice through the land, 
A thousand blessings crowd. 



* This ode is written to the same Arcesilaus, king of Cyrene, with 
the preceding ode, in honour of his victory in the chariot-race, won in 
the thirty-first Pythiad ; but whether it was the same victory, or another, 
is not known. 

f Castor; he is here mentioned on account of his delight in the 
management of horses, as we leam from Horace, and in the Games, as 
the third Olympic ode (antistro. iii.) informs us ; to which may be 
added his influence in allaying the tempests (Hor. lib. i. ode xii.), here 
figuratively applied to the civil commotions at Cyrene, which Arcesi- 
laus had suppressed, and to his succeeding triumphs in the Pythian 
Games, recorded in these odes. 



ODE V.J PYTHIAN ODES. 307 

First as thou art the sceptred lord 

Of mighty realms, and bear'st combined 
By Nature for that proud reward, 
The ruler's eye, the sage's mind : 
Next as thy coursers from the Pythian plain 
Have born the glorious prize away, 
While Phoebus gives thee to display 
Th' exulting pomp and choral strain. 

EPODE 1. 

O cease not, while the song, that swells thy fame, 
Sounds through Cyrenes echoing towers, 
Where Venus spreads* her sweetest bowers, 

God the great cause of all things to proclaim. 

First of thy peers be great Carrhotust styled ; 
He brought not to th' applauding plain, 
Where Battus'^ just descendants reign, 

Excuse, repentant Epimethes' child ; § 
But foremost in the chariot-course 
By pleased Castalia's sacred source 

Th' accepted stranger pass'd, and round 

Thy kingly locks his wreath of glory bound. 

STROPHE II. 

Twelve times round the measured bourn 

With heel unmatch'd, uninjured rein, 
Flew the swift steeds, nor tire nor trapping torn — 

Lo ! where by Delphi's fane 

* WhereVenus spreads. Cyrene is called in the original yXvicvv kclttov 
A<ppo?i.Tag, the sweet garden of Venus, as in the ninth Pythian ode 
Aiog i^o\ov kclttov, the pre-eminent garden of Jupiter, a term in both 
instances intended to denote its beauty and fertility, and in the latter its 
dependence on Jupiter, the god of Libya. 

f Carrlwtus, the charioteer, who won the race for Arcesilaus, was 
also his wife's brother, and according to Theotimus quoted by the 
Scholiast, the leader of his armies. 

X Where Battus, &c. ; that is, to Cyrene. — See Pythian ode iv. stro. i. 

§ Epimethes' child. Epimethes was the pei'son who accepted Pan- 
dora from Jupiter, contrary to the counsel of his brother Prometheus, 
who advised him to reject a present, which brought evil into the world. 
Our poet has in this little allegory represented Trpocpacng, i. e. the excuse 
made by a defeated competitor, as the daughter of this repentant 
Epimethes. — See Hes. "Epy. koVH/ji. 85. 

X2 



308 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE V. 

Hangs the fair chariot* (sound and bright 

As from the sculptor's hand it wheel'd 
Beneath the steep Crissean height t 
To th' hollow plain and sacred field), 
Slung from the cypress beam, the God beside ; 
Where by the Cretan archers' hands 
Hewn from one trunk his statue stands, 
The rich Parnassian temple's pride. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Him with grateful heart we praise, 

Whose deeds exalt his country's king : 
On thee, Alexibiades,J their rays 
The bright-hair'd Graces fling ; 
Elest in the minstrel's mindful strain, 
Thy rare exploit's reward, to live : 
Twice twenty chariots strew'd the plain, 
Thy wheels ungrazed, thy steeds survive : 
Skill hath no place but in the brave man's breast ; 
Now from the glorious games once more 
His Libyan plains, his native shore, 
The youth's triumphant steps have press'd. 

EPODE II. 

Thus labour still, man's painful part, remains. 
Yet mark ! the same propitious Power 
(The stranger's light, the nation's tower) 

That beam'd on ancient Battus, still sustains 



* Hangs the fair chariot, &c. Heyne says, that it was usual to 
dedicate the victorious chariot in the Delphic temple ; probably, how- 
ever, not in the great temple itself, but in some adjoining consecrated 
place, containing a cypress beam for the purpose, and the wooden statue 
of Apollo given by the Cretans. 

f Crisosan height. Crissa, as connected with Pytho or Delphi, is 
mentioned by Homer : — Kpiaaav re 'Ca9kt)v. — II. ii. 520. There is now 
a village called Crissa, or Crisso, about three miles from Delphi, towards 
the sea, surrounded with lofty eminences, and abounding with fragments 
of marble, and other remains of antiquity, which Dr. Clarke (with much 
probability, as it seems to me) supposes to be the site of Crissa (vol. iv. 
176), between which and the sea, that is, in the vale or hollow plain, 
KoiXontdov vaTroQ, was the Hippodrome. 

% Alexibiades, Carrhotus, the son of Alexibius. 



i 



ODK V.] PYTHIAN ODES. 309 

The throne he stablish'd, and with gifts profuse 

Blesses his people. Him, 'tis said, 

The stately lions* roaring fled : 
His alien speech their awe-struck ire subdues. 

Phoebus himself, that led the way, 

Gave their fierce natures to dismay ; 
That no rude chance might stay Cyrene's lord 
In his great course, or thwart th' unerring word.t 

STROPHE III. 

Phoebus dire disease's cure 

To seers and sapient matrons shows : 
He gave the lyre, and on his favourites pure 
Th' inspiring Muse bestows 
(The Muse, that wins from ruthless war 

The soften'd soul to love and peace) : 
He rules the shrine oracular ; 

Where warn'd by him th' Herculean race J 
Sought with th' JEgimians on Laconian ground, 
In Pyle and Argos their abode. 
The praise, from Sparta's deeds that flow'd, 
Be mine in partial strain to sound. 



* Tlie stately lions. Pausauisa inverts this anecdote ; for he tells us 
in veracious prose, that Battus was so alarmed at the sight of a lion in 
the deserts of Cyrene, that the impediment in his speech was instantly 
succeeded hy a distinct and loud articulation. — Lib. x. c. 15. 

•f Th' unerring word, the answer of the Delphic Oracle, which had 
destined Battus to the kingdom of Cyrene. — See Pyth. ode iv. 
antistr. iii. 

X Th' Herculean race. The Heraclidas. or descendants of Hercules, 
who having been driven out of the Peloponnese, and settled near Mount 
Pindus with the Dorians, under iEgimius, afterwards by the direction 
of the Delphic Oracle, and assisted by the iEgeidae, a tribe of Thebans, 
returned and settled in Pylus, Argus, and Lacedaemon ; from whence 
they colonised Thera ; from whence Battus colonised Cyrene. Pindar 
being probably of that tribe calls the iEge'idae, his fathers, and considers 
himself connected with the glory of the Spartans. — See Isthm. ode vii. 
epode i. 



310 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

Spartans born my favour'd sires 

From ^Egeus sprang to Thera came : 
Fate led them to the land,* whose sacred fires 
With many a victim flame. 
Thence, Phoebus, thy Carneian rites t 
To proud Cyrene's mount we bore, 
Still hallowing as the feast invites, 

Her fair-built fanes and echoing shore. 
Thither Antenors sons, J Troy's brave remains, 
By hostile flames in ruin laid, 
With Helen's Grecian wanderers fled, 
And left their sons th' adopted plains. 

EPODE III. 

There dwelt that race of warlike charioteers, 

To whose heroic shades the band, 

That lead by Battus rules the land, 
Still slays the sacrifice, the altar rears ; 

* Fate led them to the land, &c. This is supposed to be a corrupt pas- 
sage, Damm substituting ic tpav, ad terrain, for epavov, epulum, a feast ; 
the latter word does not so well suit the remainder of the sentence, yet 
joined with the epithet tto\v9vtov, signifying at which there were many 
sacrifices, it is in some degree supported by Callimachus, who calls it 
An annual festival 
At which unnumber'd bulls, thy victims, fell. — Hymn. Apoll. 79. 
I have translated the words, however, as given by Damm. supposing 
the land where there were many sacrifices to have been Thera, from 
whence they carried the same ceremonies to Cyrene. 

*f* Thy Carneian rites. It is said among other accounts, which will be 
found in the Scholiast on Theocritus, Idyl. v. 1. 83, that the Carneian 
rites sacred to Apollo, take their name from one Carno, a prophet or 
priest, who accompanied the Heraclida? to Sparta, &c, and was slain by 
one of them ; in consequence whereof they were visited with a pestilence, 
to remove which the Delphic Oracle directed them to institute the Car- 
neian rites in honour of Apollo. These rites appear from Callimachus 
to have been observed with great solemnity (the fire on the altar being 
kept perpetually burning), and lasted nine days ; during which the per- 
sons concerned in them lived in a state of military discipline, under the 
rule of a rigorous commander. — See Pans. lib. iii. c. 13, and Pott. Antiq. 
vol. i. 408. 

X Antenors sons. Antenorwas a Trojan, whose sons, after the taking 
of Troy, mingled with the Greeks, who accompanied Helen, and settled 
at Cyrene. 



ODE V.] ' PYTHIAN ODES. 311 

Battus, whose winged galleys through the brine 

Oped their deep passage. For the gods 

High groves* he raised, their dark abodes : 
He the Scyrotant to Apollo's shrine, 

Where the full pomp with prancing steed 

Imploring blessings might proceed, 
His spacious causeway plann'd. The Forum nigh 
Aloof the vulgar tombs his reliques lie. 

STROPHE IV. 

Blest his mortal part he bore ; 

In death a hero's rites he knows : 
Their sacred kings far off, the walls before, 
In humbler rest repose. 
Still in the shades beyond the grave 
Our liquid lays their spirits hear, 
Shedding soft dews and streams that lave 
The living flower their virtues bear ; 
Lays, that with them Arcesilas record 

Their glorious son ; whose choral train ^ 
Now sing for him in sounding strain 
Phoebus who waves the flaming sword, 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Him, who sends from Pytho's hills 

The graceful song, that far o'erbuys 
The cost of conquest, to the prince § that fills 

The praises of the wise. 

* High, groves, &c, a\aea psiZova ; an expression which perhaps may 
mean temples, particularly with the verb kt'ioiv. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. 197. 
So Callimachus seems to have construed the word, where he says of 
Battus (called also Aristoteles), Aa/xe Sk rot [xa\a KaXbv avaKTooov he 
built thee a beautiful temple. — Hytrin. Apoll. 77. 

f The Scyrotan. The Scholiast states this to be the name of the great 
causeway, that led to the temple of Apollo, at Cyrene, and seems to 
think that the term signified a pavement in the dialect of the Cyrenseans. 
There was a sacred way from Olympia to Elis, probably of the same 
description, Pausanias calling it irtCiaOa, the word used here by Pindar, 
signifying a plain and levelled road. — Lib. v. c. 16. 

X Whose choral train, meaning the choir by whom this ode was to be 
performed. 

§ To the prince, &c, meaning Arcesilas, with whose panegyric he 
proceeds. 



312 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



[ode V. 



'Tis but the general tale : in wit, 

In words, with age his youth may vie ; 
Bold as the Sovereign bird, whose might 
With wings expanded awes the sky. 
His strength in contest, like the tower in war : 
A child the Muses' haunts he knew, 
Still on their pinion soars : and who 
Shall guide with him the glowing car ? 



EPODE IV. 

All the domestic paths that lead to fame, 

His enterprising steps have tried ; . 

And well th' approving gods supplied 
His purposes with power. Through life the same 
Grant him, in act resolved, in counsel sage, 

Blest sons of Saturn, long to know ; 

Nor let th' autumnal tempest blow 
To blast the ripe abundance of his age : 

Jove, whose high will exalts and moves 

The destiny of those he loves, 
Vouchsafe the sons of Battus to obtain 
Like wreaths of glory from th' Olympian plain. 



ODE VI.] PYTHIAN ODES. 313 



ODE VI. 

TO XENOCRATES* OF AGRIGENTUM, 

Victor in the Chariot-race. 

STROPHE I. 

listen, while we till the flowery field, 

Where soft-eyed Venus and the Graces t reign, 

Hastening with duteous step our vows to yield 

Within Earth's murmuring nave J and central fane : 
Where for th' Emmenian tribe § renown'd, 

And watery Agrigent, and great 
Xenocrates with Pythian conquest crown'd, 
Apollo's proud retreat 

Enshrines, its golden stores among, 

The treasure || of our rich triumphal song. 

antistrophe i. 

Song, that nor wintry shower ^F nor driving hail, 
Keen squadrons of the pitiless thunder-cloud, 

Nor weltering sands shall beat, nor sweeping gale 
Sink in the caverns of th' all- whelming flood : 

* Xenocrates, the brother of Theron, to whom the second Olympic 
ode is addressed, and the father of Thrasybulus, an accomplished youth, 
to whom Pindar appears to have been particularly attached. — See Istkm. 
ode ii. This victory, as the Scholiast tells us, was obtained in the 24th 
Pythiad. 

f Venus and the Graces. In the same manner he speaks of lyric 
poetry as being Xapiru>v kclttov, the garden of the Graces (Olymp. ode 
ix. ep. i.), and of Cyrene, as being tccnrov 'A<ppodirag, the garden of 
Venus (Pyth. ode v. ep. i.). 

X Murmuring nave, &c. Meaning Delphi and its temple. — See Pyth. 
ode iv. stro. iv. and note. 

§ Emmenian tribe. The tribe of the Emmenidae, at Agrigentum, to 
which Theron's family belonged. — See Olymp. ode iii. antist. iii. and 
note. 

|| The treasure. There were treasures at Delphi, as well as at Olym- 
pia, in which the offerings to Apollo were deposited (Paus. lib. vi. c. 19) : 
to these our poet likens his poetical encomium. 

H Song, that nor wintry shower, <tc. The classical reader will here see 



314 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE VI. 

But with fair front, that courts the day, 

Thine and thy sire's* commingled praise, 
Wherewith the world rings loudly, shall display, 
And tell in glory's lays 
How bravely, Thrasybule, ye won 
In Crisa's echoing valef the chariot-crown. 

STROPHE II. 

There, while thine hand thy father's fame sustain'd, 

Well didst thou keep the precept, which of old 
Far from paternal care Pelides^: gain'd 

From Wisdom's lips in Chiron's mountain-hold ; 

" Before all powers to fear and love 

" The god that wields the lightning's fire, 

" The deep-mouth'd thunder's lord, Saturnian Jove ; 
" Next, to thy reverend sire, 
" Through all his life's appointed day, 
" With her that gave thee thine, like honours pay." 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Warm'd with such thoughts Antilochus the brave 
Single withstood the furious Memnon's force 

Back'd by his iEthiop host, and nobly gave 

Himself to save his sire ; whose fainting horse 



the spirited original, from which Ovid borrowed the conclusion of his 
Metamorphosis, and Horace the thirtieth ode of the third book, at the 
end of which he glances at our poet. 

Et mihi Delphicd 
Lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam. 

* Thine and thy sires, &c. It seems from hence that Thrasybulus 
either superintended the preparations for the race, or acted as the 
charioteer. The Scholiast says that Kicomachus was the charioteer, and 
refers to the second Isthmian ode, where that name appears. But that 
arduous office might have been performed by the latter, at the Isthmian, 
and the former at the Pythian Games. 

+ ftw'i echoing vale, K.piaaiaiaii> tv irrvxaiQ. This is an additional 
proof to those given in the note on Pythian ode v. stro. ii., that the 
Hippodrome was situated in the hollow plain to the south of Crisa. — 
See also Homer's Hymn to Apoll. 

X Pdides, Achilles, the son of Peleus, who was educated by Chiron. 



ODE VI.] PYTHIAN ODES. 315 

Paris * with many a shaft had raaim'd, 

And check'd his chariot's fierce career : 
"Whereat his ponderous lance the chieftain aim'd 
Full at the Pylian seer : 
Moved at the danger, not appall'd, 
" Help, help, my son," the weak old warrior call'd. 

STROPHE III. 

That voice unheeded fell not to the ground ; 

Firm stood the godlike youth, and with his own 
Ransom'd his father's life. Thenceforth renown'd 

'Mong youths of earlier times he shines alone. 

All hearts his generous virtues move ; 

All tongues th' egregious deed extoll'd, 

And crown'd it with the palm of filial love. 
Such things were fame of old : 
Of all the living, Thrasybule 
Most shapes his progress by his father's rule, 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Nor shines not by his glorious uncle's t side. 

Wisely his wealth he uses ; nurses well 
Youth's flower, nor shrunk with vice nor flush'd with pride, 

Gathering fresh wisdom in the Muses' dell. 

Thee, founder of the equestrian race, 

Neptune, that shakest the billowy strand, 

Thee and thy toils his fond pursuits embrace : 
Yet with the social band 
In converse mingling, sweet is he 
As the stored cell- work of the mountain bee. 

* Paris, dec. This story of Antilochus is not related in Homer. He 
mentions (II. viii. 80) thp circumstance of Nestor's horse being wounded 
by the darts of Paris, when Diomede gallantly interfered, and took the 
old warrior into his chariot. But Homer does not mention the attack 
of Memnon upon Nestor, nor the generous sacrifice of Antilochus : 
although he tells us that the latter was slain by Memnon. — Odys. iv. 188. 

f His glorious imcle's, Theron, the brother of Xenocrates, father to 
Thrasybulus. The glories of Theron will appear in the second and third 
Olympic odes. 



316 PYTHIAN OPES. [ODE VII. 



ODE VII. 

TO MEGACLES THE ATHENIAN, 

Victor in tlie Race of Chariots drawn by Four horses* 

STROPHE. 

Take, Minstrel, when thy glowing lyre displays 
Th' equestrian triumphs of Alcmseon'sf race, 
Great Athens { for thy theme, the proudest base 
Whereon the structure of thy strain to raise. 
What country's native can we name 

Spiling from what nobler house, th' applause of Greece to 
claim ? 

ANTISTROPHE. 

Through all our streets the talk, the general tale 
Dwells on Erechtheus' people ;§ by whose hands || 
Heard on thy Pythian rocks, Apollo, stands 
Yon gorgeous temple. Thither borne I hail 
From Isthmus five, from Cirrha twain, 
And one distinguish'd wreath from Jove's Olympian plain, 



* This victory was obtained in the twenty-eighth Pythiad, or third 
year of the seventy-sixth Olympiad. 

f Alcmceon's race. Alcmseon was an Athenian citizen, who was en- 
riched by Croesus for his kind reception of that monarch's legates to the 
Delphic oracle. He was in great esteem at Athens, where his descend- 
ants had the principal hand in the expulsion of the Pisistratidae. 

X A tkens. The Athenians erected a statue to Pindar for this pane- 
gyric on their city. The Thebans fined him for bestowing his praises 
upon any country but his own ; upon which the Athenians sent him a 
present of double the fine. 

§ Erechtheus' people. Erechtheus was the sixth king of Athens, begin- 
ning with Cecrops ; and after him the Athenians were called the Erech- 
theidae, or people of Erechtheus. He was a just and valiant monarch, to 
whom the Athenians offered an animal sacrifice. — Horn. II. ii. 550 ; Ov. 
Met. vi. 678. 

|| By whose hands. Pausanias mentions five temples erected to the 
Delphic Apollo, the first of laurel ; the second of wax and bees' wings, 
which Apollo sent to the Hyperboreans ; the third of brass ■ the fourth of 






ODE VIII.] PYTHIAN ODES. 317 



EPODE. 

Won by thy matchless ancestry, 
Illustrious Megacles, and thee. 
Thy fresh success with joy we greet ; 
Yet sorrowing mark, how Envy's pace 
Still runs by Virtue in the race, 
Ill-paid Desert disasters meet, 
And Fortune's wintry gales destroy 
The fairest blossoms of our joy. 



ODE VIII. 

TO ARISTOilENES OF JEGINA, 

Victor in the Game of Wrestling. 



STROPHE I. 

Peace,* by whom all hearts one friendship share, 

And mightiest empires stand ; 

Daughter of Justice, in whose hand 
Hang the great keys of council and of war : — 

stone, built by Trophonius and Agamedes, wbieb was burnt in the fifty- 
eighth Olympiad ; and the fifth of stone, the expense of which was paid 
by the Amphictyons, out of the sacred treasures, and designed by Spin- 
tharus, a Corinthian architect. — Pans. lib. x. c. 5. It is said, however, 
that this was done by the family of Alcmason, iinder a contract with the 
Amphictyons, and that they exceeded their engagement. — Chandl. 
vol. ii. 295. 

* Peace, &c. The date of this victory is not known. The ode, 
however, seems to have been written soon after the defeat of the Persian 
expedition, to which the iEginetans so much contributed : and, there- 
fore, the poet, in celebrating Aristomenes, of ./Egina, introduces that 
topic of encomium, by addressing the spirit of tranquillity which pre- 
viously prevailed in Greece ; and which, when assailed by insolence and 
aggression, like Jupiter by the giants, is capable of executing such 
vengeance on its enemies. With this clue, the beginning of this ode is 
intelligible and interesting. The first antistrophe, and half of the first 
epode, appear to be intended as allusions to the Persian invasion, the 
defeat at Salamis. &c. 



318 pythiau odes. [ode vin. 

For conquering Aristomenes 

Accept the Pythian crown we weave : 
Thou know'st the season of soft courtesies, 

The grace to take or give. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

But when th' aggressor's wrong thy friends sustain, 
And foes thy power engage, 
Then dost thou roughen into rage, 
And plunge presumptuous insult in the main. 
Too late the rash Porphyrion* taught 

Thy sharp rebuke, thy vengeance tries ; 
Taught, how secure the gain by Justice bought, 
How dear the plunderer's prize. 

EPODE i. 

Thou in his hour each vaunter hast subdued : 

Not Typhon's hundred heads thy watchful power 
Eluded or repell'd, 
Nor he that led the giant brood : 

Their feud the volleying thunder quell'd, 
"With fierce Apollo's arrowy shower ; 
Who now with favouring look receives 

Xenarces' son from Cirrha's plain, 
Crown'd with his own Parnassian leaves, 
The shouting choir and Dorian strain. 

STROPHE II. 

Nor lies that beauteous isle, t where Justice sways, 

Where Virtue's touch divine 

Still warms the great iEacean line, 
Far from the Graces thrown. Prom earliest days 

* Porphyrion. He was one, and Typhon another, of the giants, who 
"warred on Jove." 

+ That beauteous isle. ^Egina, which Pindar always praises with 
enthusiasm. — (See Olymp. ode viii. ep. i. ; Nem. ode viii. antistr. 
ii., &c, and other places.) In the eighth Isthmian ode, he describes 
Thebe and ^Egina to be sisters, the daughters of Asopus, and to have 
been beloved by Jupiter. It is difficult to account for this partiality in 
the poet ; unless it arose from a desire to gratify the jealousy with which 
his countrymen regarded Athens, by swelling the praises of her maritime 






ODE VIII.] PYTHIAN ODES. 319 

A proud illustrious name she boasts : 

The chiefs her teeming cities yield 
First in the games, among conflicting hosts 

The heroes of the field. 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

Such are her glories — but the time would fail, 
Th' exhausted ear would tire, 
From voice and soft enchanting lyre 
Of all her deeds to hear the lengthen'd tale. 
But to my task — aloft the song, 

Due to thy young exploit, shall spring, 
Plumed by mine heart to bear thy fame along 
High on her sounding wing. 

EPODE II. 

Thou in the wrestler's field the steps hast traced 

Of thy stout uncles : thou nor Theognete,* 

With braid Olympian crown'd, 
Hast with thy Pythian proof disgraced ; 

Nor stanch Cleitomachus, renown'd 
For his huge frame and Isthmian feat. 
Thus thy Midylian tribe enhanced, 

Thy praise (Eclidest well display'd, 
When to sev'n-portall'd Thebes advanced 

The warlike sons his strain portrayd : 

rival. The form of expression here used by Pindar, viz., "Eirtat. d' ov 
XapiTuiv skAq vdtrog, will remind the classical reader of Virgil's 
Nee tarn aversus equosTyrii, Sol jungit ab urbe. — JSn. i. 568. 

* Theognete, &c. Of Theognetus and Cleitomachus we know nothing, 
but that they were the uncles of Aristomenes, the former having con- 
quered in the Olympic, the latter in the Isthmian Games. The poet in 
this, as in most of his odes, contrives to name not only the father but 
the tribe to "which the athletic conqueror belongs ; as here he names 
Xenarces, the father, and the Midylidae, the tribe, of Aristomenes. 

+ CEclides, Amphiaraiis, the son of GScleus ; of whom and the first 
expedition against Thebes, see Olymp. ode vi. ep. i. and note. The second 
expedition against Thebes, under the command of the Epigoni, or 
descendants of the chiefs who commanded at the first, is here alluded 
to. Alcmseon, tbe son of Amphiaraiis, was of the number, and had the 
command. 



320 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



[ODE VIII. 



STKOPHE III. 

'Twas when from Argos' walls their second train 
The Seven Descendants led : 
" The soul by nature bold," he said, 
" That warms the generous father, glows again 
" In the brave son. Behold, behold, 

" At Cadmus' gates Alcmaeon wield, 
" First in the fight, the dragon's motley mould 
" That fires his blazon'd shield. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

" Adrastus too, by past disasters j/ress'd, 
" Now, with fresh heart upheld 
" By happier omen, fronts the field, 
" For future woes yet mark'd, at home unblest. 
" He of the Danaan chiefs alone 

" Shall come with whole unvanquish'd powers, 
" Yet gathering sad the relics of his son,* 
" To Abas' massy towers." t 

EPODE III. 

Thus sage Amphiaraiis taught the throng : 

Nor with less rapture round Alcmsson's brows 
Will I the wreath entwine, 
Less bathe him with the dews of song : 

For he my neighbour is ; j his shrine 
Guards with its shade my hallow'd house : 



* Of his son ; ^Egialeus, who was killed before Thebes in this second 
war, and whose statue, with that of Alcmaeon, Pausanias saw at Delphi. 
—Lib. x. c. 10. 

f To A bos' massy towers ; Argos, which was called the city of Abas, 
the son of Lynceus, who was king of that city. Statius calls him " the 
war -or," — bellator Abas. — Theb. ii. 220. 

% For he my neighbour is. The Scholiast supposes tha£ the poet in 
thi3 passage speaks of Alcmaeon as the neighbour of Aristomenes : but 
it is very clear that he is speaking in his own person, and means that the 
fane, or shrine, or heroic tomb of Alcmaeon adjoins his (Pindar's) house. 
The story of his having met Alcmaeon's spirit on his way to Delphi, is 
nothing more than a poetical figure, with a tint of superstition (Amphia- 
raiis, the father of Alcmaeon, having been a prophet), to express his 
anticipation of the victor's triumph. 



ODE VIII.] PYTHIAN ODES. 321 

As to Earth's central dome I came, 

His spirit cross'd my startled way, 
Touch'd with his sire's prophetic flame, 

And told the triumphs of the day. 

STROPHE IV. 

God of the radiant bow, by Pytho's clifts, 
Where thy proud rites sustain 
The glorious all-frequented fane, 
Thou on this youth the noblest of thy gifts* 
Hast lavish'd : at thy feast before 

The prompt Pentathlet's hasty prize 
He snatch'd, thy bounty, on his native shore, t 
Once more with favouring eyes 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Beam, I beseech thee, on th' harmonious lyre, 
Which for the brave this hand 
Awakens : Justice takes her stand 
Beside, and guides the sweet triumphal choir. 
May Heaven's regard thy prosperous lot, 

Son of Xenarces, long sustain ! 
Though wise the weak account him that hath got 
Great fame with little pain,J 



* TJie noblest of thy gifts, i. e. the prize at the Pythian Games. 

f On Ms native shore ; in iEgina, where Apollo was much worshipped, 
and where a festival and certain games, at which Aristomenes had won 
the Pentathlian prize, were solemnized in honour of that deity. These 
games were called AtXfivia, as the Scholiast tells us ; probably as 
being sacred to the Delphian god, to whom there was a temple called 
At\<pLviov, Delphinium, at Athens. — Pans. lib. i. c. 19. 

X With little pain. It should seem from this passage, that Aristo- 
menes had easily obtained his Pythian victory, which the poet ascribes 
not to his merit, but, with his usual piety, to the gods. How it hap- 
pened to be so easy an achievement, the fifth strophe will explain, where 
it appears, that on this occasion he encountered four antagonists in suc- 
cession. Each of these, as Heyne well observed, had already thrown his 
man, Aristomenes being the t<ptdpog, that is, the odd man, who had no 
match, but waited only to take up the conquerors, exhausted by their 
former struggle. His victory, therefore, was comparatively easy, and, 
his station being assigned to him by lot, was owing rather to his good 
fortune than his merit, as the fourth antistrophe appears to import. It 

Y 



322 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE VIII. 



EPODE IV. 

His life with wisdom arm'd, his counsels just ; 
'Tis not for man the blessing to command ; 
From God all bounties flow : 
This man he raises from the dust 

Aloft ; he lays another low, 
And metes him with his chastening hand. 
Three times thy brow the crown has won : 

At home in Juno's Games decreed, 
At Megara, and in Marathon, 

Where might, not chance, achieved the deed. 

strophe v. 

Hurl'd by thy fierce encounter from above, 
Four champions press'd the ground — 
To them the Pythian judge profound 
Doom'd not the sweet return, nor smile of love 
From fond maternal grace to meet ; 

Pierced with their sad mischance, alone, 
By path forlorn they slink and secret street, 
The taunting foe to shun. 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

But he, that hath some recent glory gain'd, 
On Exultation's wings, 
Lord of his hope, triumphant springs 
To heights which Wealth's low cares can ne'er ascend. 
Yet ah ! how short the vernal hour 
Allow'd for mortal bliss to blow ! 
Pate from the stem soon shakes the fluttering flower, 
That droops and dies below. 



is for this reason that in the fourth epode he is described as having 
gained his victories at Juno's iEginetan Games, at Megara, and Mara- 
thon, by great exertion, dafiaaoag «j>y<£>, to show, that he was not merely 
the champion of fortune. 



ODE IX.] PYTHIAN ODES. 323 

EPODE V. 

Child of a day, what's man ? what is he not ? 

His life a shadow's dream ! yet when from Jove 
The gladdening gleam appears, 
Then bright and brilliant is his lot, 

And calms unclouded gild his years — 
Still, great .^Egina,* join thy love 

With Jove's ; thy realm in freedom hold ; 

And ^Eacus with sceptred hand, 
Peleus and Telamon the bold, 

And great Achilles guard the land ! 



ODE IX. 

TO TELESICRATES OP CYRENE, 

Victor in Hie Race with Heavy Armour. 

STROPHE I. 

I pant the Pythian triumph to resound 

Of brazen-buckler'dt Telesicrates, 

Whom all the deep-zoned J Graces throng to please, 
The flower of proud Cyrene, steed- renown'd. 

* jBgina. The poet addresses not the island, but the nymph iEgina, 
genius of the island of that name, said to have been the mother of 
^Eacus by Jupiter. iEacus was the father of Telamon and of Peleus, 
the father of Achilles. 

f Brazen-buckle)'' d. Some of the races were run in heavy armour. 
All those exercises that conduced to fit men for war, were especially 
valued by the ancient Greeks. Swiftness, therefore, was looked upon as 
an eminent qualification, because it fits the warrior both for a sudden 
assault, and for a nimble retreat. Combined with the strength sufficient 
to carry the heavy armour used by the infantry, it was a still more ex- 
cellent endowment. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the con- 
stant character which Homer gives of Achilles is, that he was rrodag 
u)Ki>g, or swift of foot. Homer tells us in another place, that swiftness is 
one of the most excellent endowments a man can be blessed with. 
For what more fame can yield 
Than the swift race,, or conflict of the field. 

Odyss. 3. 147, Pope's Tr. 

X Deep-zoned. Ba9v%(jJvoi<n. Dodwell, in his Travels in Greece, vol. i. 

y2 



324 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IX. 

Her,* once a huntress mountain maid, 
From Pelion's tempest-bellowing shade, 

Tress'd with the radiant locks of light 
Thy son, Latona, lured away, 

Rapt in his golden chariot bright, 

To realms where flocks unnumber'd stray. 
Where trees with fruits perennial stand : 
He made her mistress of the land, 
And gave the world's third continent to bloom 
With nature's loveliest works for fair Cyrene's home. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Forth from his heavenly car her Delian guest t 

Love's silver-sandall'd Queen, with courteous touch 
And soft reception, handed : she their couch 

In modesty's becoming drapery dress'd ; 
She bade the nuptial rite prepare, 
Such as became a god to share 

With powerful Hypseus' matchless maid — 
Hypseus, whose throne the Lapithse, 

Haughty and brave in arms, obey'd : 
His race from Ocean boasted he, 

A hero's offspriig, whom of yore 
The nymph divine Creiisa bore, 



p. 140, has the following passage, illustrative of this expression. 
Describing the costume of the Arnaut women, he says : " The outer 
garment is loose, but the under one is girt round the middle by a broad 
zone, ornamented with brass, and sometimes with silver, having two 
large circular clasps uniting in front. This forms a conspicuous part of 
the female Arnaut attire, as the knemides (boots) do of that of the men ; 
and the women are not less vain of a broad and massive girdle than their 
husbands are of the brightness and richness of their boots. 

* The poet suddenly passes from the mention of Cyrene, the town 
situated on the north-western coast of Africa, exactly opposite to the 
Peloponnesus, with poetic freedom of transition, to a description of the 
Nymph, the allegorically fabled foundress and guardian of that city and 
nation. 

f Delian guest. Apollo was peculiarly worshipped in the island of 
Delos, which was fabled to have been raised by Neptune out of the sea, 
for the express purpose of becoming his birthplace, when his mother, 
Latona, was driven from all the parts of the earth by the serpent 
Python. 



ODE IX.] PYTHIAN ODES. 325 

Earth's glittering daughter, when to Peneus' love 

Her watery charms she gave in Pindus' warbled grove.* 

epode I. 

Rear'd by her father's hand, a damsel fair 

Of comeliest form Cyrene grew ; 
She loved not the dull loom, nor e'er 

The task-retracting shuttle threw ; 
Join'd not the soft domestic train 

In tame delights of feast or dance, 

But with keen sword and brazen lance 
Rush'd on the ruthless savage of the plain. 
So watch'd, her father's flocks securely fed ; 

When the first streaks of morning broke, 

The slumbers from her lids she shook, 
Nor lost the precious prime on sloth's bewitching bed. 

STROPHE II. 

Her once the quiver'd distant-darting God 

With a fierce lion's rage — unarm'd, alone — 
Struggling descried ; whereat with cheering tone 

He roused old Chiron f from his rude abode : 
" Haste from thy sombrous cave," he said, 
" And marvel at this martial maid : 

" Mark with what strength her spirit strains, 
" With what fell foe the unequal fight 

" Her fair unpractised arm sustains ; 

" Tires not the toil her virgin might, 

" Nor freezing fear with danger press'd 

" Ruffles her bold unshrinking breast. 

" Tell me what sire begot the generous child — 

" Sprung from what wondrous womb, among the mountains 
wild, 

* The genealogy here described is simply this : Oceanus was father of 
the river Peneus, who became father of Hypseus, by Creusa, a Naiad or 
nymph of the fountain ; and Hypseus was the father of Cyrene, the sub- 
ject of the poet's description. 

f Chiron was the most celebrated of the Centaurs ; and particularly 
famous for his skill in music, medicine, and the use of the bow. He 
instructed in the polite arts all the heroes of his age, as Hercules, 
Achilles, iEsculapius. &c. 



326 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IX. 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

" Holds she her shadowy haunt, tasting of power 

" E'en beyond manhood's licence 1 Tell me, Sire, 

" Doth aught forbid the hand of chaste desire 
" From that sweet plant to pluck the tempting flower 1 ?' 
Moved at the warm request, with mild 

Relaxing brow and glistening eyes, 
The greatly-gifted Centaur smiled, 

Then thus with counsel pure replies : 

" 'Tis soft persuasion's secret key 

" Unlocks the gates of ecstasy. 

" Phoebus, with men, with gods above, 

" Prevails the same reserve of love, 
" That with conceal'd approach in virtue's guise 
" Ascends without repulse the bed where beauty lies. 

EPODE II. 

" But since with thee no falsehood can remain, 
" Some playful freak thy tongue divine 

" Impels this nescient mood to feign : 

" Thou learn from me a mortal's line ! 

" Thou, who the ends of nature know'st, 

" Know'st all her means ; the leaves that swell 
" Earth's vernal bloom with ease canst tell ; 

" Number the boundless sands that on the coast 

" Of stream or sea the winds or waters beat ; 
" That with distinct regard canst see 
" All things that are, have been, shall be ; 

" If yet the weak must teach, thy wisdom's want I meet. 

STROPHE in. 

* Thou 'mongst these glades hast sought this maid's 
embrace ; 
" Hence shalt thou bear her o'er the swelling brine 
" To Jove's delightful garden,* there to shine 

" A kingdom's mistress, while the Island racet 



* Jove's delightful garden. The beautiful and fertile plain in which 
Cyrene was situated, is probably here called Jove's garden, on account 
of its proximity to the temple of Jupiter Amnion, whose worship ex- 



ODE IX.] PYTHIAN ODES. 327 

" Her state by thee collected round 

" People the plain-encompass'd mound. 
" Meanwhile to greet th' illustrious maid 

" For thee the reverend Libya comes, 
" Her fields with spacious pastures spread ; 
" Thrones her within her golden domes, 

" And portions from her vast domain 

" An empire for Gyrene's reign, 
" Wanting nor fruit nor flower, the beauteous place 
" Profuse, nor beast to rouse the raptures of the chase. 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

" There shall she bear a son, thence far away 

" On Herme's pinions wafted from the birth, 
" To where the bright-throned Hours and teeming 
Earth , 

" On their soft laps the illustrious babe shall lay. 
" Blest Aristseus ; * they his lip 
" Shall teach th' ambrosial food to sip, 



tended over all that part of Africa. The whole province was called 
Libya Pentapolis, from its having five towns of note in it : Cyrene, 
Barce, Ptolemais, Berenice, and Tauchira ; all of which not only now 
exist under the form either of towns or villages, but it is remarkable 
(says Rennel), that their names are scarcely changed from what we may 
suppose the pronunciation to have been among the Greeks. They are 
now called Kurin, Barca, Tollemata, Bernic, Tauker. 

•f The island race. Cyrene was peopled by a colony from Thera, one 
of the Sporades, now Santrim, the southernmost island of the Archipe- 
lago. This colony was at first led reluctantly from thence by Battus, 
after repeated injunctions from the Oracle of Delphi to that effect ; but 
it was afterwards much resorted to by the rest of the Greeks. — Herod. 
Melpomene. * 



* The interpretation of the allegory is this : — That Aristseus should 
be instructed by his teachers in the art of agriculture ; and from the 
observation of the seasons, and his skill and experience in the nature 
of soils, should become so skilful a husbandman, and leave so much 
improvement behind him, that men in after-ages should pay him divine 
honours, as they did to Jupiter and Apollo for their respective benefits 
to mankind ; and for his skill in field sports, should call him Agreus 
(or the huntsman), as well as Nomius (or the herdsman), for his 
attention to cattle. 



328 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



ODE IX. 



" And crown with immortality, 

" In nectar quaff'd, the gifted boy : 
" Guardian of flocks and folds is he, 

" Thence Nomius named, the herdsman's joy ; 
" Agreus by swains the chase that love, 
" And Phoebus and eternal Jove." 
Thus Chiron spoke. The God his words inspire 
The nuptial rite to speed, and crown his great desire. 

EPODE III. 

Swift are the movements of celestial minds, 

And short the path their wills descry ; 
That hour the bond of rapture binds ; 

In Libya's golden bower they lie. 

There the bright walls for games* renown'd 

Still prospering boast her guardian love : 

Conquering the while in»Pytho's grove 

The son of proud Carneades hath bound 
Her brows with glory's wreath, aloud her name 

Proclaim'd : — him then in all her streets 

With all her beauteous dames she greets, 
Bearing from Delphi's peak the rapturous prize of fame.t 

STROPHE IV. 

Boundless is virtue's praise : yet he that wooes 
The wise, with sparing blazon will supply 
The abundant theme, while opportunity, 

That perfects all things, curbs the excursive Muse. 

* The panegyrist, with inimitable art, weaves the digression into his 
principal subject, by introducing the mention of the games for which 
Cyrene was celebrated, and from this topic passes directly to the 
commemoration of his hero's victories. 

T The compliments paid to those who obtained victories in the 
games, were of the most extravagant kind. They were universally 
honoured, and almost adored. At their return home, they rode in a 
triumphal chariot into the city, the walls being broken down to give 
them entrance ; which was done (as Plutarch is of opinion), to signify- 
that walls are of small use to a city that is inhabited by men of 
courage and ability to defend it. At Sparta they had an honourable 
post in the army, being placed near the king's person. At some places 
they had presents made to them by their native city, were honoured 
with the first places at all shows and games, and ever after maintained 
at the public charge. — Potter's Antiq. book ii. cap. 21. 



ODE IX.] P\THIAN ODES. 329 

This Iolaus practised well, 

As oft seven-portall'd Thebes shall tell : 
He for one day from death return'd, 

With his choice blade's dispatchful thrust 
Eurystheus pierced ; again inurn'd, 

Slept with his godlike grandsire's dust, 

The charioteer Amphitryon ; 

Who, on Cadmean friendships thrown, 
Within the adopted walls where Thebans ride 
The milk-white warrior horse, illustrious stranger, died.* 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Mingling in dalliance high with hinl and Jove, 

At one great birth two mighty sonst of yore, 
Matchless in fight, the sage Alcmena bore. 
Cold is the tardy tongue that will not move — 
Not burn for Hercules to sing, 
Nor that beloved Dircean spring 
Remember, from whose bubbling stream, 
With Iphicles, he drank. For vows, 
With many a trophy crown' d, to them 
The loud triumphal choir I'll rouse. 
Ye warbling Graces, on this head 
Cease not your beams of song to shed, 
That tells what chaplets from JEgina's shore, 
And thrice from Nisus' mount Cyrenes champion bore. 

EPODE IV. 

Thus, to renown, from mute obscurity, 

Struggling he rose. Let friends proclaim, 

And rivals too, if such there be, 

His labours for his country's fame ! 

* The Heraclidae, after the death of Hercules, being driven from 
Peloponnesus by Eurystheus, took refuge with the Athenians, whom 
Eurystheus threatened with war, unless they delivered them up. 
Iolaus, the friend of Hercules, obtained from Jupiter the boon of being 
restored to youth and vigour again for a single day, in which he killed 
the tyrant Eurystheus, and immediately after expired. He was 
buried, as here described, near the tomb of his grandfather, Amphi- 
tryon, at Thebes. 

t These two sons, which Alcmena bore at the same birth to Jupiter 
and Amphitryon, were Hercules and Iphicles, whom the poet celebrates 
in the lines immediately following. 



330 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IX. 

Still keep the watery seer's* behest, 
That bids our veriest praises flow 
E'en for the virtues of a foe. 

Oft at the great Peutathliant feast 
The fair beheld thee crown'd with victory ; 
And each her wish in silence gave 
That Telesicrates the brave 
Were but her darling son, or noble spouse might be ; 

strophe v. 

Crown'd in the Olympic sports, the heroic shows 
Of ample-bosom'd earth, and every game 
Known in Cyrene, — thy forefather's name 
Yet claims some brief memorial ere we close 

(Though almost quench'd our thirst of song), 
To tell how erst the suitor throng, 
Lured by the Libyan damsel's fame, 

Antaeus' daughter, beauteous-hair'd, 
With brave pretence and various claim, 
To fair Irasa's^ towers repair'd. 

Her with vain vows her courteous kin 
Chiefs of high note had woo'd to win ; 
Her many a fond aspiring stranger sought, 
For nature in her form its loveliest work had wrought. 

* Watery seer's. Nereus, the father of the Nereides. 

f This is the great Panathenaic festival, celebrated at Athens every 
five years. There were also the lesser Panathensea, which were cele- 
brated triennially ; or annually, according to some. The prizes in the 
games were for a race with torches, both on foot and on horseback ; for 
gymnastic exercises ; and for music. The poets also contended in 
plays. In the greater festivals the same games and ceremonies were 
performed, but with increased splendour, and with great additions, 
more particularly the procession, in which Minerva's sacred garment, 
the YlkirXog, embroidered with the achievements of the goddess, was 
carried to the temple of Ceres Eleusinia, and thence to the citadel, and 
placed upon the goddess's statue. "Whoever obtained a victory at 
these games, received a crown of the olives which grew in the groves 
of Academus, and were sacred to Minerva. 

£ Where the giant Antaeus, her father, who was slain by Hercules, 
resided. It wa3 not far from Cyrene. Milton calls it Irassa : — 
As when Earth's son Anteeus (to compare 
Small things with greatest), in Irassa strove 
With Jove's Alcides. — Par. Reg. b. iv. p. 563. 



ODE IX.] PYTHIAN ODES. 331 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

Fain would they pluck the blooming fruit that crown'd 
Her golden youth's sweet blossom : but her sire 
Ties more august, and loftier hopes inspire. 
He from sage lips and time-vouch'd tales had found 
How erst in Argos, ere the sun 
Half his diurnal race had run, 
For eight and forty virgins* each 

Danaus a youthful spouse embraced ; 
Within the Stadium's listed reach 

How all the blushing train he placed, 
While heralds loud to all proclaim 
The plan and prizes of the game, 
Wherein each panting hero might decide, 
As each in speed excell'd, the fortune of his bride. 

EPODE V. 

Thus for his daughter fair the Libyan sire 
Fit spousal found. Her envied place 
Fast by the goal, in rich attire, 

He fix'd, to close and crown the race. 

" To him whose passing speed," he said, 
" Her veil first gains, the prize be due." 
Foremost Alexidamus flew, 

And by her yielded hand in triumph led 
Through troops of Nomads t his accomplish'd spouse : 
They from their steeds with transport new 
Fresh leaves and flowers upon him threw, 
While plumes of conquest past hung graceful round his 
brows. 

* Danaus and iEgyptus, the sons of Belus, reigned conjointly on the 
throne of Egypt. A difference arising between them, Danaus set sail 
with his fifty daughters, and landed at length at Argos, where, after 
Gelanor's abdication, he ascended the throne. The success of Danaus 
led the fifty sons of ^Egyptus to embark for Greece, where they 
married the daughters of Danaus, and were all put to death by their 
brides on the nuptial night, except Lynceus, the husband of Hyper - 
mnestra, at the instigation of their father. It was after this event that 
Danaus provided his daughters with new husbands in the manner 
here related. Hypermnestra is omitted from the number, having 
spared her husband ; and Amymone, who w r as previously betrothed to 
Neptune. 

t Nomads, or herdsmen, a name given to the inhabitants of Libya, 



332 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



[ode 



ODE X. 

TO HIPPOCLEAS, THE THESSALIAN, 

Victor in the Double Foot-race. * 

STROPHE I. 

Blest are Sparta's warlike sons ! 

Blest, Thessaly, art thou S Their race 
The lords of both your thrones 

From one great sire, the brave Alcides, trace. 
Ill-season'd sounds the boastful tale : 
But, hark ! the shouts from Pytho's vale, 
From Pelinnseum,t and the plain 

Throng'd with Aleuas' sons, aloud require 

In great Hippocleas' praise th' applauding lyre 
To strike the eternal strain. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

He with rapture tastes the games ; 
Him, at Parnassus' shady base, 
Th' Amphictyon host J proclaims 

First of the youths that ran the double race. 
Men, great Apollo, ne'er employ 
The plans or means that end in joy 



as being famous for cattle. They afterwards obtained the name of 
Numidians, by a small change of the letters which composed their 
name. 

* The double foot-race, was not that in which the runners ran twice 
round the course, but in which they ran a double stadium, once to the 
goal and back again. This course was called SiavXoe., and the runners 
diavXocpojjLoi : av\6g being the old name for Stadium. — Potter's Gr. 
Antiq. vol. i. p. 498. 

f The poet excuses the apparent boast from being out of place, by 
the circumstance of the victor Hippocleas being a Thessalian, of Pelin- 
naeum, a town on the river Peneus. Aleuas was king of Thessaly, and 
his descendants went by the name of the Aleuadae. They betrayed 
their countiy to Xerxes when he invaded Greece. 

X Th' Amphictyon host. The judges who awarded the victory. 



ODE X.] PYTHIAN ODES. 333 

TJnquicken'd by the inspiring god : * 

Aided by thee this glorious deed was done ; 
And one in spirit as in blood the son 

His father's steps has trod. 

epode I. 

For twice the Olympian wreath, 

Loaded with ponderous arms, the warrior's guise, 
Phricias entwined ; again beneath 

Where Cirrha'st ramparts rise 
High o'er the turf the crown of speed he gains. 

Long may kind Fortune with unalter'd power 
On son pnd sire, while life remains, 

Her amplest bounties shower. 

STROPHE II. 

Sharing thus no scant supply 

Of the best gifts that Greece bestows, 
May no sad destiny, 

No god with envious change their transport close ! 
Heaven's love still guard them ! Blest is he, 
Worthiest to wake the minstrelsy, 

That warms the record of the wise, 
Who with stout arm and persevering speed 
In fight or race transcends, and for his meed 

Takes virtue's noblest prize ; 

* It seems that Pindar supposes every victorious candidate at the 
Pythian games to partake in some measure of the inspiration which 
dictated the neighbouring oracle. 

t Cirrha was on the sea-coast, about thirty furlongs from Delphi, by 
the shortest road, at the mouth of the river Pleistos, or Plistus, which 
runs from Delphi into the Crissaean gulf. Pausanias calls it the port 
of Delphi. It was at the foot of Mount Kirphis, according to Strabo : 
and Pindar, in calling Parnassus Kippag Trsrpa, and again, KpiaaZoQ 
Xotyog (Pyth. ode v.), uses only a poetical latitude, of which he fre- 
quently avails himself to a very great extent, as in Pyth. ode xi. 
epode ii., where he puts the town of Amyclse for Argos, or for the 
whole of Peloponnesus ; and as on many occasions where he confounds 
Pisa and Olympia. The walls and some of the towers of Cirrha are 
said to be still remaining, as well as a large mole built into the sea. 
— Dodw. Trav. vol. i. pp. 159, 160. The poet means to express in this 
passage that Phricias, Hippocleas' father, was victorious in the Pythian 
as well as in the Olympic games. 



334 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE X. 






ANTISTROPHE II. 

Lives to see for conflict won 

The Pythian braid by Justice given 
Wave on his youthful son. 

Tis not for man to climb the brazen heaven : * 
They on the farthest fairest beach 
The bark of mortal life can reach 

Through dangers braved their sails display. 
But who with venturous course through wave or waste 
To Hyperborean t haunts and wilds untraced 

E'er found his wondrous way ? 

EPODE II. 

There Perseus press'd amain, 

And midst the feast enter'd their strange abode ; 
Where hecatombs of asses slain 

To soothe the radiant god 
Astounded he beheld. Their rude solemnities, 

Their barbarous shouts Apollo's heart delight : 
Laughing the rampant brutes he sees 

Insult the solemn rite. 

STROPHE III. 

Still their sights, their customs strange 

Scare not the Muse ; while all around 
The dancing virgins range, 

And melting lyres and piercing pipes resound. 
With braids of golden bays entwined 
Their soft resplendent locks they bind, 

* Plutarch, in his Life of Pelopidas, has a story very illustrative of 
this passage. He there relates that a Spartan meeting Diagoras, who 
had himself been crowned in the Olympic games, and seen his sons and 
grandchildren victors, embraced him, and said, — "Die, Diagoras, for 
thou canst not be a god." — Pott. Gr. Antiq. i. 496. 

t To go to the Hyperboreans, was probably a common phrase for a 
thing generally deemed impossible ; as much as saying, to the undis- 
covered islands. See Olmyp. ode iii. strophe ii., where Hercules is 
said to have brought from the Hyperboreans the wild olive which 
formed the crown at the Olympic games, after having pursued and 
taken the brazen-footed stag. 






ODE X.] PYTHIAN ODES. 335 

And feast in bliss the genial Lour : 
Nor foul disease, nor wasting age, 
Visit the sacred race ; nor wars they wage, 

Nor toil for wealth or power.* 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

Thus revenge and force they shun 

That push by Justice. Such the spot 
Which Dan'ae's daring son, 

Led by Minerva's hand, unrivall'd, sought. 
To the blest realm in haste he flew, 
His arm the monstrous Gorgon slew, 

Whose hideous head with tresses dire 
Of grisly serpents to Seriphos' shore, 
Petrific death, his punctual vengeance bore.t 

When gods the deed inspire, 



* It was a current opinion that the Hyperboreans lived to an 
incredible age, even a thousand years. Justin (b. ii. c. iii.) gives a 
similar account of the virtues of the Scythians, from whom the Hyper- 
boreans cannot be distinguished by any certain boundary, and they 
were probably of the same race. 

+ The occasion of Perseus slaying the Gorgon Medusa was this : — 
When Jupiter had obtained admittance in a golden shower to Danae, 
whom Acrisius, her father, had confined in a tower, fearing an oracle 
which predicted his death by his grandson's hand, Acrisius exposed her 
and her son Perseus in a frail bark, in which they were carried to the 
island of Seriphos, one of the Cyclades. Polydectes, the king of that 
island, brought him up ; but becoming afraid of him, and determining to 
disgrace him, he invited all his friends to a sumptuous feast, at which 
it was requisite that each of the guests should present the monarch 
with a beautiful horse. Perseus, who was of the number invited, and 
unable to make the expected present, not willing to be outdone, told 
the king that he would bring him the head of Medusa, the Gorgon. 
The offer was accepted, in the hopes that it would end in his death. 
But Perseus, having been successful, returned with the head at the 
moment when Polydectes was threatening violence to his mother. He 
presented the head, which had the power of turning every one that 
looked on it into stone, to Polydectes and his associates, who became 
petrified upon the spot, which is the event here alluded to. — See 
Pythian ode xii., where these events are more minutely detailed. 



336 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE X. 



EPODE III. 

Though hard and strange it sound, 

I listen and believe the amazing tale. 
"Now stay thine oar ; and to the ground 

Safe from the threatening gale, 
And rock that lurks beneath, thy trusty anchor lower. 

'Tis thus the choice encomiastic lay, 
Like the wild bee from flower to flower, 

Preserves its wandering way. 

STROPHE IV. 

When by Peneus' echoing shore 

The tribe of Ephyre * shall throng 
These dulcet notes to pour ; 

Hippocleas' self shall brighten from the song, 
Take, while fresh crowns his temples grace, 
Amongst his peers the worthiest place, . 

Win e'en the slow respect of age, 
And warm the virgin breast with soft desire : 
Por various ties, as love or fame inspire, 

Our mortal hearts engage. 



* Ephyra was the ancient name for Corinth, derived to it from 
Ephyra, a nymph, the daughter of Oceanus. Pausanias calls the 
Corinthians the Ephyrsei, the expression here used. — Pausanias, Corin- 
thiaca, sub init. And the Corinthians were well known in poetry 
under that name. — Horn. 11., bk. vi. 1. 152 ; Ovid, Epis. Medea Jasoni, 
27. There were other cities of the name of Ephyra ; one of them 
a city of Thesprotia, in Epirus, another in Elis, another in -^tolia. 
The Benedictine paraphrase, however, interprets the word 'Etpvpaiiov, 
as meaning the Thessalians, to whose country Hippocleas, the subject 
of this ode, belonged. The Scholiast says that the Ephyrseans were a 
tribe among the Thessalians : that Cranon, a city of Thessaly, was 
anciently called Ephyre', and that its name was changed to Cranon 
from its king of that name, who was one of the suitors of Hippo- 
damia, killed by (Enomaus, her father. It is very probable that 
Hippocleas, who was a Thessalian, belonged to the Ephyraean tribe, as 
it is a common practice with Pindar to introduce the name of the 
victor's tribe. 



ODE X.] PYTHIAN ODES. 337 



ANTISTROPHE IV. 

He that holds his hope's reward, 

The present bliss by heaven supplied 
With liveliest care will guard ; 

For hours to come no wisdom can provide. 
Thorax, mine host, my cordial friend, 
Has lured my lyre its chords to lend 

And wake for him this gracious measure. 
1 Twas he my four Pierian coursers join'd 
To their bright car, and woo'd my willing mind 

To make his wish its pleasure. 

EPODE IV. 

By trial hearts sincere are touch'd, 

And proved like gold upon the Lydian stone ;* 
Then let my praise his brothers share, 

For virtues all their own. 
They the Thessalian law with upright hand sustain : 

Thus by paternal rule great cities rise ; 
'Tis from the good their wealth they gain, 

Their vigour from the Wise. 

* The Lydian stone. The touchstone, used to assay the purity of 
metals, is a black, smooth, and glossy stone, brought originally from 
Lydia, and thence called by the ancients the Lydian stone ; but it is 
not uncommon in many parts of the world. Any piece of black pebble, 
or flint, will answer the purpose of the Lapis Lydius ; but the black 
rough marble and basaltes are the best. The method of using the 
stone is this : on a number of little bars of gold, silver, and copper, 
combined together in all manner of different proportions, the propor- 
tions of each are marked. The piece of metal to be assayed is rubbed 
on the stone, and then the needle or bar which is supposed to be 
the nearest to it in composition : that bar which produces the colour 
exactly corresponding with that of the metal to be assayed, indicates its 
composition, and the quantity of alloy which it contains. 



338 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE XI. 

ODE XL 

TO THRASYD.EUS, THE THEBAN, 

Victor in the Single Foot-race of Boys. 

STROPHE i. 

Daughter of Cadmus,* Semele, 

That dwell'st in heaven the Olympian queens among, 
And thou that in the chambers of the sea 

Sleep'st, Ino, with the Nereids haste along, 
Join'd with the hero-teeming dame that bare 

Great Hercules, to Melia'st golden shrine, 
Glittering with tripods rare, 

By Loxias J honour'd most, his treasury divine : 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

That seat of truth oracular 

He gave his loved Ismenian name to grace ; 
Thither, ye children of Harmonia fair,§ 

He calls your native choir and heroine race 
Of ancient Themis, || in becoming strain, 

To sing, when Eve hath her dun sail unfurl'd, 
And Pytho's sacred plain, 

And Delphi's warning cell, the centre of the world. 

* Semele', Ino, and Alcmena, were tutelary deities of Thebes ; and 
the victor Thrasydaeus being a Theban, the poet invokes them to come 
and join in the celebration of his victory in the Pythian Games. 

+ Melia was one of the Nereides, and the mother of Ismenus by 
Apodo. Ismenus gave his name to the river on which Thebes is 
situated : and on the banks of the same river there was a temple dedi- 
cated to Apollo, containing an oracle ; where he was worshipped under 
the title of the Ismenian Apollo. It is to this temple that the poet 
invites the presence of the abovte tutelary deities ; and he calls it the 
Melian shrine from the circumstance above mentioned. 

J There are two reasons commonly given for Apollo being called 
Loxias, both founded upon the word Ao£6c, which signifies both oblique 
and ambiguous : the one is, that it denotes the ambiguity of his oracles ; 
the other, which is supposed to be the preferable one, that it alludes to 
the obliquity of the sun's course through the signs of the Zodiac. 

§ Semele and Ino were both the daughters of Cadmus and Harmonia. 

II Themis, the daughter of Heaven and Earth, according to Hesiod, 



ODE XI.] PYTHIAN ODES. 339 



EPODE I. 

So shall your grateful transports hail 

Seven-portall'd Thebes, and Cirrha's vale, 
Where Thrasydseus his proud country named,* 

Third of his line that won the golden braid 
In the rich field of Pyladesf proclaim'd, 

Whose friend Orestes Lacedsemon :£ sway'd 

STROPHE II. 

Him from the slaughter of his sire 

By stealth his nurse Arsinoe snatch'd away, 
Th' unnatural search to shun and baleful ire 

Of Clytemnestra, on that fatal day 
When old Dardanian Priam's captive maid, 

Beauteous Cassandra, her relentless hand, 
With Agamemnon's shade, 

By one fell stroke despatched to Acheron's dismal strand. 



was the first to whom the inhabitants of the earth raised temples ; and 
the first also who uttered oracles. Her oracle was famous in Attica in 
the age of Deucalion, who was instructed by it how to repair the loss of 
mankind. She reigned and uttered oracles at Delphi prior to Apollo : 
and hence she is here coupled by the poet with Pytho and Delphi in his 
celebration of the Pythian Games. 

* 'Efivaaev iariav, that is, gave a name and renown to his home and 
family, by refreshing and regilding the memorial of his ancestor's 
victories, and adding additional trophies of his own. 

t Pylades was a king of Phocis : the Pythian Games therefore were 
celebrated within what had formerly been his dominions. Pylades was 
the son of Strophius, to whose court Orestes retired after the murder of 
his father Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and ^Egistheus, as here related ; 
and he assisted Orestes in revenging himself on them, and in recovering 
the throne of Argos. The friendship of Orestes and Pylades became 
proverbial, so that the name of one was always joined with that of the 
other, and Pindar has ingeniously taken advantage of this colloquial 
bond as a link to connect the following episode with his original 
subject. 

+ Lacedcemon. Heyne asks, " Why is Orestes spoken of as a Lace- 
daemonian? — I think," he answers, "because he became king of 
Sparta ;" and he refers to Pausan. bk. ii. c. xviii. p. 150 ; bk. iii. c. i. 
p. 205. 



fc2 



340 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE XI. 



ANTISTROPHE H. 

Merciless dame ! what pang so keen 

Stung thy revenge to dare so dread a deed ? 
"Was 't to requite thy injured Iphigene 

On black Euripus'* shore condemn'd to bleed? 
Or was 't the midnight couch thy soul betray'd, 

E'en while thou wantonedst in the stranger's arms, 
With deadlier guilt to shade 

The ne'er-forgotten crime that stain'd thy faithless 
charms 1 

EPODE II. 

Alas ! it dwells on every tongue ; 

For ill report delights the throng, 
And envy on distinction ever waits ; 

"While he that breathes life's humblest destiny 
Slanders unheeded. Thus Amyclse's gates,t 

At length return'd, beheld Atrides die : — 

STROPHE III. 

Die with him the prophetic maid 

Saved from the flames and wreck of plunder'd Troy, 
Which he for Helen's guilt in ashes laid. 

Meanwhile to Strophius the sequester'd boy, 



* Euripus, the very narrow strait between Boeotia and Eubcea, near 
to which was Aulis, where Iphigenia was sacrificed, is subject to a 
remarkable flux and reflux of the tide, caused by the narrowness of the 
channel ; in the same way as in many rivers of England, particularly 
the Avon, where the tide rises and falls sometimes as much as forty 
feet. The ordinary tide in the Mediterranean being nearly impercep- 
tible, this phenomenon of the Euripus became a matter of deep inquiry 
among the ancients ; and it is said that Aristotle threw himself into the 
strait, because he was unable to find out the cause of it. 

+ Amyclce's gates. ^Eschylus lays the scene of Agamemnon's death at 
Argos ; and it is commonly supposed to have happened either there or 
at Mycenas. Amyclse was situated a few miles to the south of Sparta, 
and the Scholiast supposes that the poet here uses it figuratively for the 
whole of Peloponnesus. Heyne thinks it possible that Pindar may 
have followed some tradition respecting the place of Agamemnon's 
death, different from that generally received. It may be observed that 
he speaks of Orestes in this ode as a Lacedaemonian (epode i. last line). 



ODE XI. J PYTHIAN ODES. 341 

His ancient host that by the sacred base 

Of old Parnassus dwelt, unknown withdrew ; 
Thence grown to manhood's grace, 

Arm'd on his mother rose, and foul iEgistheus slew. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Mark how my truant song hath stray'd 

From the straight path its outset had design'd, 
Like traveller vague by crossing track betray'd 

Or some sea-labouring vessel, which the wind 
Has drifted from its course. Resume thy way, 

If thou in truth, my Muse, hast pledged for hire 
Thy mercenary lay : 

For other strains, I trow, must tremble on thy lyre : — 

EPODE III. 

Strains that for feats in Pytho's Games 

Phricias* or Thrasydseus claims, 
Where glory spreads the beams of gladness round ; 

They on the chariot swift, and pressing steed 
Far-famed of yore, with radiant conquest crown'd, 

Bore from th' Olympian cirque the palms of speed. 

STROPHE IV. 

Stripp'd of their arms in Pytho's field, 

They on the Stadium enter'd ; far behind 
Hosts of Hellenians to their swiftness yield. 

Be mine on heaven's great gifts to fix my mind, 
Restraining still youth's wishes to its power : 

For marking that with men in lowly state 
Enjoyment's happier hour 

Largest remains, I spurn the pleasures of the great. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

My praise the humbler virtues claim ; f 

The rich still rue the envy they excite : 
Yet he that by desert advanced to fame 

Meekly his greatness wears, nor from that height 

* Phricias was the father of Thrasydaeus, and he introduces, as usual, 
the trophies both of father and son into his present panegyric. 
T Not being able to eulogise the victors for their magnificence and 



342 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE XI. 

With insolence looks down, at last shall find 

E'en in death's gates the beams of comfort shine, 

And leave a name behind, 

Life's richest, best bequest to grace an honour'd line. 

EPODE IV. 

Thus Iolaus,* noble son 

Of Iphicles, distinguish'd shone ; 
And Castor and great Pollux jointly swell, 

Offspring of gods, the Muse's minstrelsy : 
To-day by turns Therapne'st dismal cell 

They share ; to-morrow lifts them to the sky. 

liberality, and other such ostentatious virtues, on account of their 
humble circumstances, the poet dexterously turns their poverty to 
their praise ; and extols mediocrity of condition, and moderation in 
ambition, as if they were the objects of his highest admiration. 

* Iolaus. See Pyth. ode ix. stroph. iv. n. 

+ The fable related of Castor and Pollux is interpreted, by the 
Scholiast, of Lucifer and Hesperus, which are the names given to the 
planet Venus, assuming as it does alternately the office of the morning 
and the evening star, according as it follows or precedes the sun : and 
this is more agreeable to the account of those who say that the term of 
their alternate abode in heaven was a period of six months. The poet 
here uses Therapne, the place where the monument of the Dioscuri was 
erected, for the grave, or infernal regions, to which they were supposed 
alternately to descend. 



ODE XII.] PYTHIAN ODES. 343 



ODE XII. 

TO MIDAS OF AGRIGENTUM, 

Victor on tlie Pipe. 



STROPHE I. 

Lover of glory, fairest queen 

Of cities raised by human skill, 
That dwell'st beside the margent green 
Of flock-frequented Agragas,* 

High on the temple-crested hill 

The fair Proserpine's t chosen place ; 
Accept with favouring look, the while 
Mortals and gods propitious smile, 
The wreath I bring from Pytho's shrine 
Pound Midas' glorious locks to twine : 
Midas, in sage Minerva's art 
Above all Greeks his matchless part 
Conquering perform' d, with instrumental tone 
The Gorgons' cries to mock and loud lamenting moan-J 

* This apostrophe is addressed to the city of Agragas, or Agrigentum, 
which was situated on a hill, near the banks of a river, both of the same 
name, as alluded to below. Agrigentum was founded by the people of 
Gela, a Ehodian colony. The town in its most flourishing state con- 
tained 200,000 inhabitants. It now boasts more venerable remains of 
antiquity than any other town in Sicily. 

+ Proserpine was peculiarly worshipped throughout Sicily, which she 
is said to have made the place of her residence before she was carried off 
by Pluto, delighting herself with the beautiful views, the flowery mea- 
dows, and the limpid streams, which surrounded the plains of Enna. 
The Sicilians believed that the fountain Cyane had risen from the earth 
at the very place where Pluto had opened himself a passage to carry her 
down with him into hell. Here they annually sacrificed a bull, whose 
blood they allowed to run into the waters of the fountain. 

X It is not here intended that the shrieks and moans of the Gorgons 
were the subject of Midas's strains, by which he obtained the victory ; 
but that the music of the pipe is best suited to the expression of such 
subjects ; and that Minerva in fact invented this instrument for the 
very purpose of representing the cries which were uttered by Stheno 
and Euryale upon the death of the third sister Medusa ; as is more 
clearly expressed below in strophe ii. 



344 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE XII. 



ANTISTROPHE I. 

Such, their wild woes and melting whine, 

^Vlien Perseus with his radiant sword 
'Reft of the third the sisters trine ; 

Such, mingling with the deafening sound, 

Pour'd from the twisting snakes abhorr'd 
That yell'd their virgin brows around. 
Dooming old Phorcus'* race divine 
In darkness and dismay to pine, 
He to Seriphos' sea-girt shore 
Her people's death triumphant bore : 
Erst an unwelcome empty guest 
At Polydectes' fatal feast, 
He now avenged with fail* Medusa's head 
His mother's charms enslaved and compulsory bed. 

strophe n. 

For he was Dan'ae's progeny, 

Sprung, as they tell, from golden shower 
Spontaneous dropping from the sky. 

Him thus from peril snatch'd, the loud 

Melodious pipes with various power 

The virgin's heavenly hand endow'd ; 
That so the mimic instrument, 
With warbled screams and feign'd lament, 
Might yield, Euryale, the note 
"Wrung from thy shrill-bewailing throat. 
The rare discovery thus by Heaven 
For mortal recreation given, 

Her " many-headed mood "f th' inventress names, 
The people's signal sweet that warns them to the games. 

* Phorcus, or Phorcys, was the father of the Gorgons. 

+ Her many-headed mood. This was probably a poetical paraphrase 
for the pipe in common use. It is here imagined that the instrument 
by its great compass and versatility represents the multitude of serpents 
hissing from the heads of the Gorgons. The Scholiast makes an inge- 
nious conjecture, which is, that it may have allusion to the chorus, 
which being to the number of fifty, had a corresponding number of 
instruments. Damm supposes that the holes in the pipe to which the 
fingers are applied, were considerably raised, and were therefore like 
so many vocal heads rising out of the body of the instrument. 



ODE XII.] PYTHIAN ODES. 345 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

Through vocal vent its music flows 

Of brass with slender reed combined 
That near the festive city* grows, 

Where with light step the Graces move, 

Marking the measured dance they wind 
In cool Cephisus' flowery grove. 
Whate'er success mankind achieves, 
'Tis toil alone the blessing gives ; 
And fortune's breath the self-same day 
Oft blows the short-lived flower away. 
'Tis not for man th' appointed doom 
To shun. The hour to all shall come 
That brings what hope foretastes not, and bestows 
Boons of unpromised bliss or unsuspected woes. 

* Orchomenus, a city of Boeotia, was situated at the entrance of the 
river Cephisus into the lake Copais. 



NEMEAN ODES. 



ODE I. 

IUS THE 

Victor in the Chariot-race. 

STROPHE I. 

Hallow'd goalt of Alpheus' race, 
Ortygia, flower of noble Syracuse, 

Diana's natal place, 
Sister of Delos,;}; from thy fount the Muse 
Her sweetly-warbled numbers speeds, 
"With praise to deck the tempest-paced steeds, 
And please ^Etnsean Jove.§ 
Chromius' car and ISTemea's plain 

To crown his conquest bid us move 
The loud encomiastic strain. 

* Chromius, the hero of this ode, was the son of Agesidamus, and 
the husband of Gelon's sister: he was also (as the Scholiast tells us) the 
charioteer of Hiero, king of Syracuse, to whom the first Olympic and 
the first three Pythian odes are addressed. At what period this victory 
was gained, does not appear. 

f Hallow'd goal, &c. The river Alpheius, which flows by Olympia, 
is said to have run under the Ionian sea after the nymph Arethusa, of 
whoi t he was enamoured, and to have appeared again at Syracuse, in 
the island of Ortygia, which the poet for this reason calls the breathing- 
place or goal where the impassioned river ended his pursuit. — Yirg. 
^Bn. iii. 696. This address to Ortygia is not inelegantly prefixed to 
the praises of Chromius, who was originally a Syracusian. 

Z Sister of Delos. Apollo, the brother of Diana, having been born 
at Delos, and the goddess, according to Pindar, in Ortygia, the latter 
island is poetically called the sister of the former. 

§ JEtncean Jove. There was a temple in the city of ^Etna dedicated 
to Jupiter. 



ODE I.] NEMEAN ODES. 347 



AOTISTROPHE I. 

Lo ! the victor's virtues rise 
And strike the mansions of the gods above. 

In Fortune's region lies 
Glory's bright summit, where the Muses love 
Proud games and champions to record. 
Now for that isle* which erst th' Olympian lord 

On Proserpine bestow'd, 
Strike the lyre : his azure locks t 

He shook, and gave th' assuring nod 
That, crown'd with fruitful fields J and flocks, 

EPODE I. 

And gorgeous cities, to the skies 
Sicilia's fattening hills should rise. 
The son of Saturn gave beside 
A race that burns in brazen arms to guide 
The war-horse to the field ; that round its brow 

Th' Olympian chaplet's golden gleam 
Hath oft display'd. The shaft of truth I throw, 
And boundless is my theme. 

STROPHE II. 

In the porch of Chromius' hall 
Honour'd I stand, warbling th' applausive lay, 

And at his bounteous call 
Share the rich banquet. Many a festive day 
That board the welcome stranger knows : 
His virtues mar the slanders of his foes, 



* Tfiat isle. The gift of Sicily by Jupiter to Proserpine, the daughter 
of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, is probably nothing more than an 
allegorical record of its fertility. 

f For a magnificent description of Jupiter's nod and its effects, see 
Horn. II. lib. i. 1. 528, and Catullus, lib. ii. 1. 204, et seqq. 

J Fruitful fields. The fertility of Sicily was proverbial ; and we 
know that the Romans called it the granary of Italy. The Sicilian 
cities were equally celebrated. Syracuse is well known ; and the clas- 
sical reader who refers to Mr. Wilkins's Magna Cfratcia, will form 
some notion of its ancient grandeur. 



348 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ODE I. 



And quench like flood the flame. 
Various arts mankind delight ; 

But he that tempts the field of Fame 
Must march with Nature to the fight. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Strength its might by action shows ; 
The mind by thought and sure sagacity ; 

As heaven each gift bestows. 
Son of Agesidamus, both in thee 
Their blended energies unfold. 
Cursed be the useless heap of hoarded gold ! 

My stores my friend must share : 
Bounteous affluence buys renown, 

When her full hands with general care 
The hopes of labouring virtue crown. 

EPODE II. 

'Tis thus with Chromius, from whose praise 
I pass to tales of ancient days 
For like examples bright, and seize 
The youthful feats of matchless Hercules. 
How, from his parent's womb the pangs of birth 

Escaped, Jove's infant offspring lay, 
And with his twin-born brother struggling forth, 
Gazed on the dazzling day : 



STROPHE III. 



How by Juno not unseen 
The saffron swathe his infant members pent ; 

"Whereat th' indignant queen 
Of the high gods two furious serpents sent.* 



* Theocritus, who relates this fable (Idyll, xxiv.), following exactly 
the account here given by Pindar, only with some amplification and 
additional comment, says that Hercules was ten months old when he 
received this abrupt visit from the two serpents. The indignation of 
Juno had been roused against him by Jupiter's amour with Alcmena, 
of which he was the produce. She had previously subjected him to 
the tyranny of Eurystheus, by the following stratagem. On the day 
on which Hercules would, by the usual course of nature, have been 
born, Jupiter declared that a child should come into the world to whom 






ODE I.] NEMEAN ODES. 349 

Through the wide gates with many a fold 
They to the dark and spacious chamber roll'd, 
Their jaws with slaver smear'd, 
Ravening for their infant prey : 

Stirr'd at the sound, his front he rear'd, 
And roused him for the maiden fray. 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

Round their necks in durance sure 
With gripe inevitable his hands he clasp'd ; 

Till time their sprites impure 
Press'd from the strangled monsters as he grasp'd : 
Meanwhile with terror petrified 
Stood the fair train that by Alcmena's side 

Their soft attendance gave ; 
Frantic from her painful bed, 

She all unshod, her babes to save 
From those foul foes, unclothed had fled. 

EPODE III. 

Forthwith the Theban chiefs alarm'd, 

In brazen arms around them swarm'd ; 

And first the brave Amphitryon, 

With brandish'd faulchion from the scabbard drawn, 
Rush'd breathless in, with pang parental stung : 

Thus each his own afflictions tear, 
While all, with cheek soon cheer'd, and heart unwrung, 

Their neighbour's sufferings bear. 



he would give absolute power over the children of his own blood. 
Juno, having made him confirm his decree by swearing by the Styx 
(the usual oath of the gods, according to the Grecian mythology), im- 
mediately used her privilege of presiding over child-birth, and pro- 
tracted the birth of Hercules. She at the same time hastened that of 
his cousin Eurystheus, by which he obtained the title of superiority 
intended to be confirmed to Hercules. Alcmena was delivered at 
the same time of another son, by her husband, whose name was Iphicles, 
which is the twin-brother here mentioned ; and Amphitryon was con- 
sidered as the father of them both, whence the paternal anxiety which 
he displays, as presently mentioned. 



350 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ODE I. 



STROPHE IV. 

Fix'd in wonder's stiffening trance, 
Jov-struck lie stood, the dauntless infant's might 

First bursting on his glance, 
And all the tale forged by his menials' fright 
Thus cancell'd by the powers above. 
Forthwith the peerless priest of highest Jove 
Tiresias'* tents he sought, 
Truth's unerring prophet, sage : 

He to th' assembled warriors taught 
The fortunes of that infant's age ; 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Told, what monsters of the waste, 
What foes to justice on the infested tide 

His mortal stroke should taste ; 
What wrong, when hard oppression leagued with pride 
His deadliest vengeance should sustain ; 
How, when the immortal powers on Phlegra's plain 
With earth's gigantic crewt 
War should wage, as wage they must, 

His sharp impetuous darts should strew 
Their locks illustrious in the dust. 



* Tiresias was a celebrated prophet of Thebes, who was said to have 
outlived six generations of men, during the time that Polydorus, Lab- 
dacus, Laius, (Edipus, and his sons, sat on the throne. During his 
lifetime Tiresias was an infallible oracle to all Greece. The generals in 
the Theban war consulted him. After his death he was honoured as a 
god, and his oracle at Orchomenus was held in universal esteem. 
Homer represents Ulysses as going to the infernal regions to consult 
Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca. — Odyss. xi. 1. 90, et seqq. 

f The giants of the Grecian mythology were said to have sprung 
from Ccelus and Terra, the Heaven and the Earth, and were usually 
styled the Sons of the Earth, or the Earth-born race, which is what 
their Greek name riyag imports. They are supposed to have lived in 
the peninsula of Pallene, formerly called Phlegra, in Macedonia. En- 
raged at the defeat of their relations, the Titans, they made war against 
Jupiter ; and having heaped Mount Ossa upon Pelion, assaulted heaven 
with rocks, oaks, and flaming forests. The gods fled into Egypt, where 
they are said to have screened themselves from punishment by assuming 
the shapes of different animals. Jupiter, however, remembered that 
the giants were not invincible, provided he summoned a mortal to his 



ODE II.] NEMEAN ODES. 351 



EPODE IV. 

He told, how thus for pains below 
His soul eternal peace should know, 
Celestial bliss ; his toils receive 
The richest prize rewarding gods can give, 
To dwell within the mansions of the blest, 

Seated with Jove in beauty's bloom, 
While yielding Hebe crown'd his nuptial feast 
In heaven's empyreal dome. 



ODE II. 

TO TIMODEMUS OF ATHENS, 

Victor in the Pancratium* 

STROPHE I. 

As bards, that soar on Homer's wing, 

With prologue of Jove's sounding praise 

Begin their rhapsodies to sing ; 
So he that swells my lays 

assistance, and by the advice of Pallas he armed his son Hercules 
in his cause, who soon subdued them by means of his deadly arrows, 
which he had dipped in the poisonous gall of the hydra. Some contend 
that the conquest of the giants by Hercules took place in the plains at 
the foot of Vesuvius, which was also called the Phlegraean, or the 
burning plain. — Dlod. Sic. lib. iv. c. i. Diodorus also mentions a third 
war between Jupiter and the giants (lib. v. c. iv.), in Crete, which was 
probably the original and the only one. 

* The Pancratium consisted of the two exercises of wrestling and 
boxing ; from the former of which it borrowed the custom of throwing 
down ; from the latter that of striking the adversary. Wrestlers never 
struck, nor did boxers ever attempt to throw one another down ; but 
the Pancratiasts were permitted to do both ; and it was customary for 
the weaker party, when he found himself sore pressed, to fall down, and 
fight rolling on the ground, by pinching, biting, scratching, and annoy- 
ing his adversary in all manner of ways ; whereby it often came to pass 
that the weaker combatant, who would never have been able to throw 
his antagonist, obtained the victory, and forced him to yield ; for in 



352 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE II. 

The base and prelude of his fame, 
And prowess in the sacred game, 
Hath laid within the grove 
And far-famed cirque of Nemean Jove.* 

STROPHE II. 

Yet oft, if right- directing time 

Dooms him th' Athenian name to grace. 
And gives him, like his sire, to climb 

The steeps of glory's race, 
With conquering hand Timonbus' son 
Shall pluck, from Isthmian contests won, 
The fairest wreaths they yield, — 
Oft rise victorious from the Pythian field. 

STROPHE III. 

For when the mountain Pleiads f glow, 
Soon shall Orion's baldrick J blaze, 

And Salamis§ hath power, I trow, 
A champion chief to raise : 

this exercise, as in boxing also, the victory was never adjudged till one 
party had fairly yielded, which was sometimes done by holding up the 
finger. This exercise is also called Uafifiax lov } an( i the combatants 
UafXfidxoi. — Pott. Gr. Ant. vol. i. pp. 500, 501. 

* This victory in the Nemean Games, which were celebrated in 
honour of the Nemean Jupiter, was the first victory that Timodemus 
had ever gained, which circumstance the poet immediately turns into a 
compliment, and into an omen of future success. 

t The Pleiades are seven stars near the back of the sign of the Bull 
in the zodiac. Their name is derived from the Greek word tlXliiv, to 
sail, because that constellation shows the time of the year most favour- 
able to navigation, which is the spring. They are for this reason also 
sometimes called Vergilise, from ver, the spring. They are probably 
here called the mountain Pleiads, because they were said to be the 
daughters of Mount Atlas, previously to their being made to form this 
constellation. Virgil calls them the Atlantides (Geor. i. 221) ; and 
Milton (Par. L. book x. 1. 674) gives them the name of the seven At- 
lantic sisters. 

% Orion is a constellation, near the feet of the Bull, composed of 
seventeen stars, in the form of a man holding a sword, which has given 
occasion to the poets often to speak of Orion's sword. It begins to rise 
in the commencement of March, shortly after the Pleiades have ap- 
peared. The poet, therefore, augurs that a second victory will succeed 
the first, as nearly as Orion's appearance succeeds that of the Pleiades. 

§ Timodemus, though an Athenian by birth, was educated at Salamis, 



ODE II.] XEMEAX ODES. 353 

Let Hector tell, how many a tongue 

In Troy the name of Ajax rung ; 
And, Timodeme, thy might 
Shines courage-proof in the Pancratian fight. 

STROPHE IV. 

From earliest age Acharnse's* dames 

Have rear'd a race for valour famed : 
How oft hath conquest at the games 

A Timodeme proclaimed ! 
They from the crowded plain below 
Parnassus' towering throne of snow 
Four splendid victories bore ; 
They from Corinthian rivals, on the shore 

strophe v. 

"Where virtuous Pelopst ruled of yore, 

Eight chaplets wrung ; their temples crown'd 
From Nemea seven, from Athens more 

Than number's reach can bound, 
Gain'd in Jove's games ; whose praise supreme, 
Join'd with triumphant Timodeme, 
Ye native choirs display — 
Begin, begin the sweet melodious lay. 

the native place of Ajax, whose battle with Hector is described in the 
7th book of the Iliad. 

* Acharnae was one of the 174 drjuoi, or boroughs, into which the 
Athenian tribes were divided. Each of them was in the habit of using 
peculiar rites and ceremonies, and of worshipping peculiar tutelary 
deities — all agreeing, however, in the supreme worship of Minerva. — 
Pott. Gr. Ant. vol. i. p. 61. 

T In the Isthmian Games. When Pelops had established himself 
upon the throne of Pisa, which was the inheritance of Hippodamia, the 
daughter of (Enomaus, whose hand he had obtained by conquering her 
father in the chariot-race, as described in the first Olympic Ode, anti- 
strophe iii. and epode iii., he extended his conquests over the neighbour- 
ing countries, and thus gave his name to the whole of the peninsula. 



2 A 



354 NEMEAN ODES. 



ODE III. 



ODE III. 

TO ARISTOCLIDES OF jEGINA, 

Victor in the Pancratiwm. 

STKOPHE I. 

Come, heavenly muse, the mother of my song, 
To fair JBgina's Dorian sile,* 
With many a stranger throng'd, the while 
Nemea's high games the sacred moon prolong ; — 
Come, for behold from far the youthful band, 
Framing their sweet triumphal air, 
By old Asopus' banks t to hear 
Thy dulcet voice impatient stand. 
To various meeds man's various toils aspire ; 
But most the conquering Athlete burns 
For the rich lay, that wakes the lyre, 
And waits on Virtue's steps, weaving the wreath she earns 



* jEgina's Dorian isle. ./Egina, formerly (Enopia, received its name 
from ^Egina, the daughter of Asopua. She married Actor, the son of 
Myrmidon ; but of her son, ^Eacus, the king of (Enopia, Jupiter is said 
to have been the father. u33acus was the father of Telamon and Peleus, 
and Peleus was the father of Achilles : hence the poet takes occasion to 
commemorate the exploits of all three in the course of this ode. 

Pausanias (book ii.) says that the original inhabitants of the island 
were produced by Jupiter from the earth ; that afterwards some Argives 
having settled there, and mixed themselves with the natives, taught 
them the Dorian language and customs, which became prevalent 
throughout the island. Strabo (book viii.) says that it was colonized by 
Argives, Cretans, Epidaurians, and Dorians. 

t Old Asopus' banlcs. There were several rivers of this name, in Thes- 
saly, in Bceotia, in Macedonia, in Asia Minor. The one here alluded to 
is a river of Peloponnesus, passing by Sicyon, and therefore not far from 
the seat of the Nemean Games. There is probably also an allusion to 
Asopus, the father of the nymph iEgina, who gave his name to this 
river, and is supposed to be listening, therefore, to his own daughter's 
praises. 



ODE III.] NRMEAN ODES. 355 



ANTISTROPHE I. 

Whereof no scant supply, no lingering stream, 
Daughter of Jove, that rules on high 
The cloudy muster of the sky, 
Pour from these lips to match my pregnant theme. 

Thus to their tuneful throats and quivering strings 
Th' effectual hymn my soul shall give, 
And bid their nation's glory live : 
Whose ancient tribes and godlike kings, 
Whose Myrmidonian sires* with dastard's part 
Aristoclides ne'er hath shamed ; 

With no faint arm, no recreant heart, 
The rough Pancratium faced, the sturdiest champion tamed. 

EPODE I. 

But Victory's soothing hand can heal 

The blows conflicting heroes feel, 

And bring from Nemea's blooming plain 

The joyful balm of every pain. 

If then with manliest beauty graced, 
And rich in deeds that form to suit, 

The son of Aristophanes hath placed 
On glory's loftiest peak his daring foot, 
There must he pause : 'tis no mean task to brave 
Beyond th' Herculean rocks f th' unnavigable wave : 

STROPHE II. 

Bocks, which the hero-god stupendous piled, 
His proud memorial, to display 
The limit of his wondrous way. 
He the huge monsters of the billowy wild 

Subdued ; the lakes, the tides that flood the sound, 
His keen spontaneous search explored — 
Proved every pass, and fount, and ford, 
Adventure's goal and Nature's bound : — 

* Whose Myrmidonian sires. The ^Eginetans were called Myrmidons 
from their ancestor Myrmidon, the father of Actor, and grandfather of 
Ma.cus. 

t TIC Herculean rocJcs. These are the two lofty rocks, the one on the 
south-western extremity of Spain, the other on the north-western extre- 
mity of Africa, called aLo by the ancients Abyla and Calpe. 
2 A2 



356 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE in. 

Whither, my spirit, to what alien strand 
Veer'st thou my course ? thy wandering lays 

The sons of ^Eacus* demand : 
'Tis justice crowns the muse that glows in virtue's praise 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Not from the stranger's store, the distant spring, 
Her amplest cup Encomium fills : 
Draw thou from rich iEgina's rills 
The sweet, the glorious theme she bids thee sing. 
There Peleus old in feats of bravery shone ; 
With ponderous lance himself had fell'd, 
By no compeer, no host upheld, 
Alone Iolcus' walls f he won — 
Won to his arms the mistress of the wave. J 
Hence too the mighty Telamon, 

Comrade of Iolas the brave, 
Troy's perjured king§ subdued, and broke his barbarous 
throne. 

* j£acus was the supposed son of Jupiter and JEgina, and he gave 
his mother's name to the island which he governed. He obtained during 
his life such a character for integrity, that the ancients have made him 
one of the judges of hell, with Minos and Rhadamanthus. 

+ Iolcus was a town of Magnesia, on the sea-coast, at the foot of 
Mount Pelion. It was the birth-place and patrimony of Jason, the son 
of jEson. The occasion of the taking Iolcus by Peleus was as follows : 
— Astydamia, or Hippolyte, the wife of Acastus, the son of Pelias, who 
usurped the throne of ^son, fell in love with Peleus while in banish- 
ment at the court of her husband. Peleus, however, rejecting her ad- 
dresses, she accused him to Acastus of attempts upon her virtue. The 
monarch, listening to the accusation of his wife, ordered his officers to 
conduct him to Mount Pelion, under pretence of a hunting-party, and 
there to tie him to a tree, that he might become the prey of wild beasts. 
Having escaped from thence by the assistance of Chiron, Peleus assem- 
bled his friends, forcibly took Iolcus, deposed Acastus, and put Astyda- 
mia to death. Among the friends who assisted him, however, were 
Jason, and the Tyndaridae, according to the relation of Pherecydes, as 
found in Apollodorus, lib. iii. 13, 7. See Nem. ode iv. stro. vii. viii. 

$ Mistress of the wave. Peleus was said to be the only mortal that 
ever married a goddess. To avoid his addresses, Thetis is related to 
have changed herself into all manner of forms, till, by the advice of 
Proteus, he surprised her asleep, in her grotto near the shores of Thes- 
saly. She then consented to marry him, and the nuptials were cele- 
brated with the greatest solemnity, all the gods attending, and each of 
them making the most valuable presents to tb 3 newly-married pair. — 
Ovid, Met. ii. 221 — 265. See Nem. ode iv. stro. viii. ix. 

§ Troy's perjured king. Laomedon was assisted in building the walla 



ODE III.] NEMEAN ODES. 357 

EPODE II. 

"With liim the realms, where 'gainst the foe 

Th' Amazons bend the brazen bow, 

He vanquish'd. Fear, that quells mankind, 

Stay'd not his ardent constant mind. 

Such power hath he, whose bosom burns, 
By Nature touch'd, with glory's fire ; 

While Art's weak child still shifts, as frailty turns 
His obscure path ; by no sublime desire, 
No steadfast step sustain'd, his wavering soul 
Tries every virtue's taste, yet dares not drain the bowl. 

STROPHE III. 

Mark now the part divine Achilles play'd ! 

While Philyra* yet with watchful eye 
O'erlook'd his home-kept infancy, 
E'en then men's feats his childish sports he made. 
Poising with infant hand the barbed lance, 
Full oft the lion's wrathful might, 
Swift as the wind, he match'd in fight ; 
Oft faced the bristling boar's advance, 
And at old Chiron's feet exulting laid, 
Scarce six years born, his panting prey. 

Thence on his youth the Delian maid, 
The stern Minerva, smiled, and cheer'd his wondrous way. 

of Troy by Apollo and Neptune, but, refusing to reward the gods for 
their labour, his territories were laid waste by the god of the sea, and 
by a pestilence from Apollo. The wrath of the gods could not be ap- 
peased but by the annual exposure of a Trojan virgin to a sea-monster 
which appeared on the coast. The lot at length fell upon Hesione, the 
king's own daughter ; and, in the midst of his despair, Hercules under- 
took to deliver him from the calamity for the reward of a number of 
fine horses. Laomedon, however, was again faithless to his engage- 
ments, and Hercules laid siege to Troy, and took it by force of arms, in 
which he was attended by Telamon as his armour-bearer, who after- 
wards received Hesione in marriage. Iolas was another attendant of 
Hercules in this exploit, and his nephew. 

* Philyra gave birth to the Centaur Chiron, to whom the education 
of Achilles, in the arts of war and music, was intrusted by his mother 
Thetis. — See antist. iii. 



358 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE ni. 



ANTISTROPHE in. 

He with no treacherous toils the doe beguiled, 
"With no dull brach her track pursued ; 
His dazzling pace, as legends rude 
Vouch the free tale, her bounding footstep foil'd. 
Within that rock-roof'd mansion long before 
Jason the sapient Centaur rear'd, 
And gentler iEsculapius heard 
Soft-handed Medicine's healing lore. 
He bade bright Thetis in her fruitful arms 
A hero's mortal form enfold ; 

The unrivall'd son that crown'd her charms 
"With wisdom's wealth he stored, and shaped in virtue' 
mould j 

EPODE III. 

That, when to Troy's beleaguer'd plain 
His bending sail should thwart the main 
Th' accomplish'd youth might bravely stand 
"War's onset wild, the gleaming brand, 
The clashing spear (though Lycian shout, 

Dardans and Phrygians, swell'd the alarm), 
And, rushing on the javelin'd ^Ethiop's rout, 
Pour all his heart into his vigorous arm — 
That Memnon, their fierce prince, might sail no more, 
"With Helenus* though leagued, to Nile's lamenting shore. 

STROPHE IV. 

Prom him th' JEacean race, with brightest ray, 

To distant climes and ages shine : — 

Jove, are they not thy seed divine 1 
Thine the great games, which now, with rapt'rous lay 

* Eelerms. Priam, the father of Helenus, and Tithonus, the father of 
Memnon, were both sons of Laomedon : Helenus and Memnon, there- 
fore, were cousins-german. Memnon came to the Trojan war with 
10,000 men, and killed Antiochus, the son of Nestor. He afterwards 
refused the challenge of the aged father, and accepted that of Achilles, 
by whom he was slain. The remnant of his colossal statue in Egypt 
still astonishes travellers by its grandeur and beauty. — See Nem. ode vi. 
stro. iii. 1. 10. 



ODE in.] NEMEAN ODES. 359 

By youthful warblers breath'd, their country's fame 
Blazoning, I sing ; — with victory crown'd 
Aristoclides swells the sound, 
And gives their isle's illustrious name, 
Her Pythian Pontiff proud, and awful shrine, 
On Memory's pictured roll to live. 

Thus high deserts by trial shine ; 
Thus men by deeds compared their true distinctions give. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Boys among boys by various feats surpass ; 

Youth copes with youth ; maturer age 
Its own appropriate arts engage. 
Such are the stages of our mortal race ; 

A fourth yet follows — life's declining day ; 
This too its powers, its blessings yields, 
Whereof no stint hath he, and gilds 
Calm virtue's close with wisdom's ray. 
Farewell, farewell ! — to thee, my valiant friend, 
These milk-drops, mix'd with honey dews, 

My soft mellifluous lays, I send, 
Pour'd from the iEolian pipe — the nectar of the Muse : 

EPODE IV. 

Too long delay'd — but through the skies 

Swiftest of fowl the eagle flies ; 

Lured from afar he sails away, 

And pounces on his mangled prey ; 

"While with hoarse croak and timorous night 
The inglorious jackdaw* courts the ground. 

Meanwhile, on thee, as, from her throne of light, 
• Clio thy prowess hails with victory crown'd, 

From Epidaurian groves, f and Megara's shore, 
And Nemea's shouting field, the beams of glory pour. 

* Inglorious jackdaw. The daws here mentioned seem to represent 
the rest of the rhymers and poetasters who had eulogized Aristoclides, 
and whom the poet professes to outstrip with the same facility as the 
eagle all such birds of a meaner flight. 

t Epidaurian groves. Epidaurus was situated on the north-eastern 
coast of Argolis, nearly opposite the island of iEgina. It chiefly de- 
voted itself to the worship of iEsculapius, from whom the games here 



360 % NEMEAN ODES. [ODE IV. 



ODE IY. 

TO TIMASARCHUS OF ^GINA, 

Victor in tlie Game of Wrestling. 

STROPHE I. 

Toil that conquering virtue bears 

Joy's sweet balsam's best allay 
And song, the Muses' daughter, cheers 

With her soft touch and soothing lay. 
The bath's warm waves not so reclaim, 
So rouse the champion's fainting frame, 
As praises bland his soul inspire, 
Warbled on truth's delightful lyre : 

Her everlasting word survives 
The doer and the deed, 

When graceful genius largely gives 
From wisdom's deepest fount the living meed. 

STROPHE II. 

Now to Saturn's son divine, 

Thnasarch, and JSTemea's field, 
Field of the wrestler's fame, be mine 

The encomiastic song to yield ; 
Worthy the tower-crown'd citadels 
Where ^Eacus' high lineage dwells ;* 
Where, friend with stranger mix'd, on all 
The beams of equal justice fall. 

Oh ! if Timocritus thy sire 
Still view'd th' all-cheering day, 

How would he strike the various lyre, 
And wake the string to our triumphal lay ! 

alluded to received the name of the ^Esculapian. It was particularly 
celebrated, as well as the whole of Argolis, for its horse3. Hence Virgil, 
Domitrix Epidaurus equorum. — Gevrg. iii. 44. 

* For explanation of the allusion to iEgina in this ode, see the notes 
to the last ode. 



ODE IV.] NEMEAN ODES. 361 



STROPHE III. 

How the golden wreaths resound, 

Won from famed Cleonse's fray ; * 
From glorious Athens, and the ground 

Where sev'n bright portals front the day ! t 
For, where Amphitryon's proud remains 
Inurn'd th' illustrious tomb contains, 
Cadmsean chiefs, with willing hand, 
Twined round his brows the glittering band : 

Fondly they swell'd iEgina's fame ; 
For, welcome to that wall, 

By friends received a friend he came,J 
And sat in great Alcides' gorgeous hall. 

* Famed Cleona's fray. By the games of Cleonse, at which Timasar- 
chus was victor, the Nemean games are probably intended ; for Cleonas 
was but a short distance from Nemea, and it was at this place that 
Hercules killed the Nemean lion, hence also called the Cleonaean lion : 
and it was in commemoration of the success of Hercules in this labour, 
according to some authorities, that the Nemean games were instituted. 
— Nem. ode x. stroph. iii. 

t The games celebrated at Thebes were called indifferently the 
Heraclean and the Iolaean, having been instituted in honour of Hercules 
and of his companion Iolaus, who assisted him in subduing the hydra. 
The place of their exercises was called, from Iolaus, 'loXduov. In the 
same place stood the sepulchre of Amphitryon, and the cenotaph of 
Iolaus, who was buried in Sardinia. Both these were, at this solemnity, 
strewed with garlands and flowers. — Pott. Gh\ Ant. v. i. pp. 463, 464. 
At this festival the peculiar custom was observed of offering apples to 
Hercules, the origin of which, according to Pollux (lib. i. c. i.), was the 
misfortune upon one occasion of not being able to bring a sheep, on 
account of the overflowing of the Asopus. They in consequence sub- 
stituted apples (which happened to have the same name in Greek, firjXa, 
as sheep), sticking four sticks into them for legs, and two more for 
horns. This substitution was ever after continued. — Pott. Or. Ant. 
v. i. p. 456. 

% By friends received a friend he came. The bond of mutual hospi- 
tality — TTpo£evia — formed between the inhabitants of separate states, 
was one of the most admirable of the customs and institutions of 
Greece, and the obligation arising out of it was held more sacred than 
even the tie of blood. In the earlier ages, when strangers were really 
unsafe in foreign countries, it was one of the most useful, in periods of 
greater civilization, it was one of the most amiable and ornamental 
features of society. Glaucus and Diorned laid down their arms in the 
heat of battle, and afterwards exchanged armour, out of a pious regard 
to the hospitable alliance which had been entered into by their pro- 



362 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE IV. 



STROPHE IV. 

Telamon* with him repell'd 

Merop routt and Phrygian band ; 
"With him the warrior-giant quell'd, 

Alcyoneus, % whose wasteful hand 
Twelve chariots, that with coursers four 
Each to the field two heroes bore, 
With a rock's fragment whirl'd around 
Had dash'd promiscuous to the ground. 

Ill hath he read war's woeful page, 
Ne'er tried ambition's race, 

"Who learns not from this lesson sage 
How vauntful victory speeds but to disgrace. 

STROPHE V. 

All their glorious deeds to tell 

Lyric law forbids the string : — 
Time urges, and some potent spell 

Lures me the new-moon sports to sing. 
Quit, roving muse, the tempting tale, 
And in mid sea reverse thy sail ; 
Transcendant thus o'er all thy foes. 
Its day thy glorious orb shall close ; 

While he, that plots thy spotless fame 
With envious glance to wound, 

Rolls in the dark the glimmering flame 
Of his weak rage, that sinks into the ground. 

genitors, (Eneus and Bellerophon. — Iliad, vi. 1. 215. See Pott. Gh: Ant. 
vol. ii. pp. 410—418. 

* Telamon with him, &c. It has been observed in a note to the last 
ode, antist. ii., that Telamon accompanied Hercules in his expedition 
against Troy. Pindar here supposes Telamon to have also been his' 
companion in some of his other exploits, probably for the sake of com- 
pliment to iEacus, his father, and through him to iEgina, of which he 
was king. 

t Merop rout. The inhabitants of Cos, one oi the Sporades isles of 
the ./Egean, are here called the Merop rout, from Merops, one of their 
early kings. 

X Alcyoneus was one of the giants whom Hercules assisted Jupiter 
in subduing. 



ODE IV.] NEMEAN ODES. 363 



STEOPHE VI. 

Me whate'er the part, the powers, 

Sovereign Fate hath doom'd to hold, 
Full well I know the circling hours 

Shall prove and perfect and unfold. 
"Weave then with speed, my dulcet lyre, 
Thy richest woof, my soul's desire, 
Th' harmonious mood of Lydian measure, 
(Enone's* pride and Cyprus' pleasure ; — 

There Teucer rears his distant throne ; 
Here, midst his father's fields, 

The mightier son of Telamon 
His Salaminian sceptre Ajax wields. 

STROPHE VII. 

Glittering in the Euxine main, 

Leuce's isle Achilles sways ; 
To Thetis bows the Phthian swain ; 

Pyrrhus th' Epirote tract obeys, 
Whose rock-strew'd range and cultured head, 
With herds and fattening pastures spread, 
From dark Dodona's waving steep 
Breaks westward on the Ionian deep. 

Iolcus old, whose walls embower'd 
By shady Pelion rose, 

Peleus with hostile hand o'erpower'd, 
And gave enthrall'd to her Hsemonian foes : 



* (Enone was an ancient name of iEgina. 

The poet here introduces a sketch of the fortunes of the whole family 
of Maeas : of Ajax, his grandson, and the son of Telamon, whom he 
has already mentioned ; of Teucer, another son of Telamon, who, being 
expelled by his father from Salamis because he had left the death of his 
brother Ajax unrevenged, retired to Cyprus : of Peleus, the son of ^Eacus, 
who having subdued Iolcus (as mentioned Nem. ode iii. antist. ii.), added 
it to Thessaly, called also Haemonia ; of Achilles, the son of Peleus, who 
was transported after death with Iphigenia, whom he married, to Leuce, 
in the Euxine sea ; of Thetis, the wife of Peleus, who was principally 
worshipped at Phthia in Thessaly ; and lastly of Neoptolemus, the son 
of Achilles, and great grandson of iEacus, who was also called Pyrrhus, 
from the redness of his air. 



364 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE IV. 



STROPHE VIII. 

Weak Acastus' wily spouse* 

On their realm that vengeance brought — 
Such rage a wanton's wrongs could rouse : 

Him Pelias' son, with treachery fraught 
And axe Daedalian, by the way 
In ambush dark had lurk'd to slay ; 
By Chiron saved, eftsoon to prove 
The splendid destiny of Jove. 

TJnscared, the fierce all-conquering fire, 
The lion's strength he braves, 

His armed paws, his fangs and ire — 
Forms that disguised the mistress of the waves, t 

STROPHE IX. 

Love at length the Nereid bound ; 

Peleus shares her golden throne : 
From seas and skies their banquet round 

The gods in glittering circle shone, 
And gave them of their grace divine 
Treasure and power to bless their line. 
'Tis not for man the deeps to sound 
That rage beyond the Gadian bound : % 

Turn thou tow'rds Europe's dreadless coast 
Thy helm and venturous sail ; 

The sons of ^Eacus can boast 
Deeds which no strain can reach, no time detail. 

* Acastus, the son of Pelias, at the instigation of his wife Astydamia, 
attempted to take the life of Peleus by treachery. 

f The allusion is to the various forms which Thetis assumed to avoid 
the addresses of Peleus. 

J Gadian bound. The ancient Gades was no doubt* the same as the 
modern Cadiz. But the accounts of the early geographers are very 
inaccurate respecting it. Strabo (book iii.) says that it was a small 
island, 100 furlongs long and one broad ; that the inhabitants, though 
dwelling in so small an island, were the most maritime nation in the 
world. Their city was more populous than any except Rome, and they 
could bring into the field 500 cavalry, which no other city but Padua 
could do. The island (or probably the peninsula upon which Cadiz i3 
now situated) was colonized from Tyre. 






ODE IV.] NEMEAN ODES. 365 



STROPHE X. 

Herald of th' athletic fray- 
Fought in famed Olympia's vale, 

In Nemean grove and Isthmian bay, 
The brave Theandrian tribe I hail. 

There the nerve-strengthening toil they plied, 

'Gainst rivals brave their prowess tried, 

Nor bore not to their native bowers 

The wreath that blooms with glory's flowers. 
There, foremost of the tuneful choir, 

To chant the victor's praise 

The tribe of Timasarch* aspire. 

Tf yet for Calliclest thou bidd'st me raise 

STROPHE XI. 

Pillars of eternal mould, 

Brighter than the Parian mine, 
Know that great deeds, like glittering gold 

Purged in the fire, more brightly shine 
In the warm song when genius sings, 
And makes inferior mortals kings. 
Oh ! could his shade, that dwells below 
Where Acheron's wailing waters flow, 

These cheering strains delighted hear 
Sounding the boastful day 

When at loud Neptune's games he bare 
Prom Corinth's choicest chiefs her crown away ! 

* Tribe of Timasarch. It seems that the tribe of Timasarchus the 
Theandrian, on account of the greater number of victories, and odes in 
celebration of them, which it could boast, had some peculiar privilege, 
either of being the depositories of all such records, or else of leading 
the chorusses which chanted them on public occasions. The word 
rrpoTToKoq, however, which means one who leads the way, may be here 
only a poetical expression for the pre-eminence and priority of this 
tribe in respect of the number of triumphal odes which it could boast. 

t Callicles was maternal uncle of Timasarchus, and he was probably 
also in his time a victor in the games. 



366 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE V. 



STROPHE XII. 

Him long since with willing lay 

Euphanes, thy father's sire, 
Sung, as the heroes of his day 

Each minstrel's glowing lips inspire : 
For well the gifted hand can write 
The vivid records of the sight : 
Like his that binds unrivall'd now 
With wreaths of skill Melesias' brow.* 

Unmaster'd in the lists of song 
His might each champion throws ; 

Mild to the good, but, roused by wrong, 
Rough and revengeful on his recreant foes. 



ODE Y. 

TO PYTHIAS OF .EGDTA, 

Victor in the Pancratium for boys. 

STROPHE I. 

I AM no sculptor to display 
Statues of silent stone, that in one place 
Stand motionless upon their idle base, 

Unknown. Speed thou, my dulcet lay, 
In every bark and pinnace o'er the deep 
From loud ^Egina's echoing steep 

* Melesias' brow. The commentators seem to agree in considering 
Melesias to have been the anointer, or esquire of Timasarchus — answer- 
ing perhaps to what is now called a trainer, being one who prepared 
him for and attended him in the fight. It was not uncommon to give 
such an one his share of the praise, and perhaps the victory was not 
unfrequently attributed to his advice and skilful assistance, as is the 
case with those who fulfil the corresponding offices in the modern ring. 



ODE V.] NEMEAN ODES. 367 

Spreading this tale the world around — 
How Lampon's valiant son, 

Pythias, with wreath Pancratian crown'd, 
In Nemea's grove the palm of strength has won. 

Youth on his lip hath not yet blown 

Her earliest bloom of mantling down ; 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Yet hath this stripling glorified 
Warriors and heroes from the golden love 
Of Nereids sprung, and ^Eacus, and Jove, 
And Saturn ; * blazon'd far and wide 
His capital, the stranger's throng'd resort ; 
Whose populous walls and masted port 

Endais' glorious sons of yore, 
With kingly Phocus (born 

Beside th' abrupt resounding shore 
Of Psamathe divine, in cave forlorn), 

Founded and bless' d, and gave to ride, 

With many a prow, the wondering tide.t 

EPODE I. 

Suppliant for this, at Jove's Hellenian shrine J 

They stood, and raised their hands to heaven : — 

I tremble to disclose what wrath divine 
Th' illustrious pah', to exile driven, 

* Of Nereids sprung, and JEacus, &c. The heroes here alluded to, are 
Peleus, Telamon, and Phocus ; the same which are mentioned in the 
seventh and eighth lines of this stanza as the founders of the capital city 
of iEgina. Saturn was the father of Chiron, whose daughter, the nymph 
Endais, became the mother of Peleus and Telamon by iEacus, the son 
of Jupiter. The Nereid Psamathe was the mother of Phocus by the 
same JEacus. 

t JEgina was at one time the principal naval power in Greece ; to 
which the poet has already alluded in the fifth and sixth lines of the 
first strophe of this ode. Its naval power and pre-eminence were at 
length entirely destroyed by the Athenians under Pericles, who took 
seventy ships, and expelled the natives from the island. 

% The occasion here alluded to is, according to the Scholiast, that of 
a dreadful drought which afflicted the whole of Greece ; when iEacus 
and his sons obtained the blessing of rain, not only for his own island, 
but for Greece in general, by offering up their joint prayers at the altar 
of Jupiter. Pausanias (b. li.) relates that at the entrance of a temple, 



368 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE V. 

Forced from the favour'd isle ! * A deed, 
By no just ire, no mastering need, 
Provoked — hold, hold, my lips, th' unwelcome tale : 

Sage truth, that yields not to dismay, 
Oft shades her blushing cheek in caution's veil : 

Oft silence best secures discretion's blameless way. 

STROPHE II. 

But when brave wealth, or manly might, 
Or praise of iron war demands my song, 
Dig me the venturous chasm, profound and long, 

And my light limbs with easy flight 
Shall leap the tempting peril. Eagles fling 
O'er the broad sea the daring wing. 

Yet e'en for these, in happier day,t 
The muses' beauteous choir 

Spontaneous moved, their heavenly lay 
On Pelion's mountain sung : the sev'n-tongued lyre 

With golden wand Apollo strook, 

And all th' eternal numbers woke. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

First above all, in loftiest strain, 
Th' immortal name of Sovereign Jove they sung ; 
Majestic Thetis next, of Nereus sprung, 

And Peleus chaste, whose virtue's stain 
The false Hippolyta plann'd — adulterous queen ! J 
She, with feign'd fears and plaints obscene, 

dedicated to facias, were sculptured the figures of the chiefs who 
came from the several parts of Greece to join with iEacus in this 
general supplication. 

* Forced from the favoured isle. Telamon killed his brother Phocus 
with a quoit, accidentally, as it was said, and fled to Salamis, an island 
of Attica, of which he became the king. Peleus, who was accessory 
to the probably intended murder, also retired from his native country 
to Phthia, a town of Thessaly, of which he in like manner became at 
length the king. 

+ On occasion of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, at which all the 
gods and goddesses were present, except the goddess of Discord, who, 
to punish this seeming neglect, threw an apple into the midst of the 
assembly with the inscription upon it, Delw pulchriori — For the most 
beautiful. This was the occasion of the celebrated Judgment of Paris, 
and eventually of the ruin of Troy. 

X The false Hippolyta — adulteroui queen/ This story has already 



ODE V.] NEMEAX ODES. 369 

Her duped uxorious spouse, that fill'd 
Magnesia's potent throne, 

T' adopt her treacherous tale beguiled — 
Her base invented charge — " how all alone, 
" On his own couch, his helpless bride 
" By force the ruffian prince had tried." 

EPODE II. 

'Twas all the truth reversed — the fraud of lust. 

With fervent prayers, avow'd desires, 
Oft had she press'd him ; but his stern disgust, 

His rageiihe bold proposal fires. 
The wrath of hospitable Jove* 
He fear'd, and spurn'd th' unholy love. 
Jove from his cloudy throne, heaven's ruling lord, 

Mark'd the just youth, and for his bride 
Gave him the Nereid queen, his truth's reward, 

That deep in crystal cave the golden distaff plied. 

STROPHE III. 

Neptune with smiles the nuptial meets, 
Though mortal : he from iEgae's thundering bayt 
Oft to the Dorian Isthmus speeds away, 

Where many a band his coming greets 
With hymns and clarions loud, and cheering cries^ 
While strength contests th' heroic prize, 



been alluded to in Neni. ode iii. antistroph. ii. and Nem. ode ivv. 
stroph. viii. 

* Hospitable Jove. The institutions relating to hospitality have 
already been alluded to. The mutual obligation arising from this bond 
was always held to be of the most sacred character, and several of the 
gods were supposed particularly to watch over and to enforce its obser- 
vance ; but particularly Jupiter, who was thence called Ztvg EkvioQ, 
the hospitable. 

f uEgals thundering bay. JEgse was a town of Eubcea, opposite 
Boeotia and Phocis, at which place was a celebrated temple dedicated to 
Neptune. Neptune was also, as here alluded to, the tutelary deity 
of Corinth. His peculiar worship at iEgse is mentioned by Homer n*. 
his hymn to Neptune : 

Who Helicon and spacious ^Egae holds. 
And hence he was often called ^Egsean Neptune. 

2B 



370 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE V. 

Won as the natal guardian power* 
Each champion's lot decrees ; 

That erst in proud (Enone's bower 
Gave to thy might, renown'd Euthymenes, 

In victory's heavenly arms embraced, 

The high-wrought hymns of praise to taste. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Sprung from the same maternal seed, 
See thy bold steps the youthful Pythias trace, 
Beaming his glory's rays on all his race : 

Nemea beheld his daring deed, 
And the fair month Delphiniant Phoebus loves. 
Him, midst .iEgina's echoing groves, 

By Nisus':}; vale-cleft mountain dark 
His ill-starr'd rivals fly : — 

Oh ! how it joys my soul to mark 
Each generous state in feats of bravery vie ! 
Know, 'twas Menander's§ art prepared 
Thy fortune's way, thy toil's reward : 

EPODE III. 

Athens alone the master hands can bring 

Th' aspiring Athlete's skill to frame : — 
Wouldst thou with these the brave Themistius sing 1 1| 

Speak boldly : shrink not from his name ; 

* As the natal guardian power decrees. The ancients placed an 
implicit faith in the notion that the fortune of particular men was born 
with them. This more especially prevailed among the Romans, who 
always preferred a fortunate to a seemingly skilful general. The poet 
in this place seems to have a still further idea that fortune is not only 
born with her favourites, but runs partly in families, by which he 
ingeniously paves for himself a way for the mention of Euthymenes. 

+ A festival and games were celebrated at iEgina in honour of Apollo, 
in the month called by them Delphinius. This festival was the Hydro- 
phoria, in which, as at Athens, water was carried in the procession, in 
commemoration of the deluge of Ogyges. 

X Nisus was king of Megara, at which place games, called the Alca- 
thoia, were celebrated. The poet means to relate that Pythias was 
victor both in iEgina and at Megara. 

§ Menander was the trainer or second of Pythias. 

II Themistius was the maternal grandfather of Pythias. 



ODE VI.] NEMEAN ODES. 371 

E'en to the topmast hoist away 
The swelling canvass of thy lay : 
Him pugilist — Pancratiast him proclaim ; 

In Epidaurus twice renown'd 
He bears the blended chaplets of his fame 

Back to th' ^Eacean shrine, by all the Graces crown'd. 



ODE VI. 

TO ALCIMEDES OF JEGTNA, 

Victor in tlie Gcvme of Wrestling for Boys. 

STROPHE I. 

Men and the Gods above one race compose : 

Both from the general parent Earth 

Derive their old mysterious birth : 
But powers unlike their differing nature shows ; — 

Man breathes his moment, and is nought ; 
While, like their brazen heaven's eternal base, 
Gods live for ever : yet th' illumined face, 

Th' illustrious form, th' aspiring thought, 
Proclaim him kindred of the skies, 
Though fate conceals from reason's eyes, 
Whether night frowns, or noontide glows, 
What course we rim ; what goal the race shall close. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

E'en now the brave Alcimedes displays 

A cognate port, a soul like theirs. 

He, like the field, that sometimes bears 
From the quick seed, which genial culture lays, 

Life-fostering fruits, and crops of gold, 
But when th' alternate season bids abstain, 
The fallow sleeps refresh'd, and teems again ; 

Thus he, 'niong Nemea's chiefs enroll'd, 
2 b2 



372 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE VL 

Of his proud race relumes the fire 
That slumber'd in his nameless sire : 
While Jove his destined progress leads, 
With fearless foot his grandsire's steps he treads, 

EPODE I. 

Finding, like hunter true, the place 

Where worth might win the wrestler's crown, 
By the sure track of old Praxidamas. 

The verdant plant, by Alpheus grown, 

First from the Olympian cirque he bore 
To bloom on fair iEgina's shore : 
Three Nemean braids his locks imbow'd ; 

Five Isthmian choirs his triumphs sung ; 
Till Agesimachus beheld the cloud 

Disperse, that round his son, the tame Socleides, hung. 

STROPHE II. 

Thus these three champions* of one generous line 

Mounted by virtue's toilsome ways, 

And reach'd the topmost peaks of praise. 
Fortune, by man's best help, Jove's will divine, 

Prosper'd their house-: to none beside, 
From all the games which spacious Greece supplies, 
E'er fell so largely given the boxer's prize. 

Great though the task — this hand shall guide 
Right home, I trow, with archer's art, 
To the bright scope its sounding dart. 
Breathe thou, my Muse, thy glorious breeze 
Full on the sails of brave Alcimedes. 



* Thus these three champions. The genealogy above referred to, of 
which each alternate generation addicted itself to the games, is thus 
clearly set forth in the paraphrase of Benedict : — Alcimedes, the 
present victor, contended in the games ; Theo, his father, abstained 
from them ; Praxidamas, his grandfather, was also a candidate and 
victor ; his great-grandfather, Socleides, did not follow that line ; but 
his great-great-grandfather, Agesimachus, pursued it. Thus making 
three alternate champions. 



ODE VI.] KEMBAN ODES. 373 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

Praised are the deeds of those that are no more : 

The minstrel's lyre, the rhetor's tongue, 

Hath told their tale, their chant hath sung ; 
Whereof the Bassian tribe no scanty store 

Hath bless'd : full freights* in happier days 
Of rich renown they bought with noble deeds, 
Harvests of hymns, which from celestial seeds 

Pierian swains profusely raise. 

Thence Callias sprung, a champion proved, 
By both Latona's twins beloved ; 
Round his stout wrist the cestt he wove, 
And pluck'd the crown from Pytho's sacred grove. 

EPODE II. 

Thence by Castalia's murmuring spring, 

When eve had closed the martial game, 
Like her bright star, he burnt amidst the ring 
Of Graces choir'd to sound his fame. 

Him next at Neptune's Isthmian shrine, 
The bridge that parts his restless brine, X 

* Fidl freights. The felicity of the metaphor consists in the allusion 
to the celebrity of iEgina as a naval and mercantile power ; so that the 
Bassian tribe, the tribe of Alcimedes, are supposed to freight their 
ships with their own praises. A similar allusion is contained in Nem. 
ode i. strophe i., where the poet bids his dulcet lay speed 
In every bark and pinnace o'er the deep, 
From loud ^Egina's echoing steep. 

+ The thongs of leather, called by the Eomans the cestus, with 
which the ancient pugilists surrounded their wrists, were, as Potter 
informs us, first invented by Amycus, king of the Bebrycians, who was 
contemporary with the Argonauts. — Clemens Alexand. Strom, i. p. 307. 
These cestus were at first short, reaching no higher than the wrists ; 
but they were afterwards enlarged, and carried up to the elbow, and 
sometimes even as high as the shoulder ; and in time they came to be 
used not only as defensive arms, but to annoy the adversary, being 
filled with plummets of lead and iron. — Pott. Gr. Antiq. vol. i. p. 
499. The formidable pair of weapons of this kind exhibited by 
Entellus {JEneid, lib. v. 1. 401), are well recollected ; and also the 
use to which he put one of them, by striking an ox dead with one 
blow of it. 

X The bridge that parts his restless brine. Pliny calls the Isthmus of 



374 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE VI. 

"Where slaughtered bulls triennial fall, 

Th' Amphictyons honour'd : round his head, 

Where Phlius rears* his dark primeval wall, 

The rough-maned lion's plant its crisped foliage spread. t 

STROPHE III. 

Wide is the gate, and various are the ways 

Through which, this glorious isle to grace, 

The pomp of poesy may pass : 
For there unfailing founts of purest praise 

The race of JEacus supplies — 
(Praise, the reward — the heroic virtue's gain) : 
Through all the peopled earth, the trackless main, 

Spread far and wide their glory flies ; 
It leapt beyond the Libyan shore, 
When Memnon's might return'd no more ; 
For no tame sport, no mimic war 
Was his, when swift Achilles from his car 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Came threatening down, and with his angry spear, 

Though sprung from bright Aurora's womb, 

Despatch'd him to the dusky tomb. 
Such are the tales old times were proud to hear : 

These are the public paths of song, 
Through which my course with ardent steps I keep, 
And though, when dangers crowd the stormy deep, 

The wave that bursts the shrouds among 
Most moves the labouring seaman's fear, 
My back the twofold load shall bear, 

Corinth the neck of the Peloponnesus. Pindar, in another place, calls 
it the gates of the ocean. — Ner/i. ode x. antistrophe ii. It i3 about five 
or six miles across, and has been frequently fortified so as to become a 
complete gate and defence to the Peloponnesus. Mr. Dodwell (vol. ii. 
pp. 186, 187) gives an account of all the numerous fortifications which 
have been erected upon it up to the present time. 

* Phlius was a town in the territory of Sicyon, and not far from 
Nemea. 

f The lion's plant its crisped foliage spread. This is the parsley, with 
which Hercules, after having conquered the lion, and instituted there- 
upon the Nemean games, ordered the victors to be crowned. 



ODE VII.] NEMEAN ODES. 375 

While thus with willing steps I trace 
The past and present triumphs of the race : 

EPODE III. 

For from the sacred games, that gave 

His godlike sires their just renown, 
Alcimedes, fit offspring of the brave, 

Hath earn'd the five-and-twentieth crown. 
Two more to Timidas* and thee 
The lots' precarious destiny 
In Jove's Olympian grove denied. 

Yet let my song Melesiast name ; 
Prompt, as the dolphin on the billowy tide, 

Your boisterous strength he trains, and guides you to the 
game. 



ODE YII. 

TO SOGENES OF JEGIXA, 

Boy ■ Victor in the PentatMon. 



STROPHE I. 

Daughter of powerful Juno that dost cheer, 
Throned by the deep-foreboding destinies, 

The labouring birth, chaste Ilithyia,J hear : 

Without thy aid nor day, nor midnight skies, 

* Benedict supposes that Alcimedes, and Timidas, another pugilist 
of the same tribe, were excluded, for being too young, from contending 
in the Olympian games, to which beardless youths were not admitted. 
Heyne, with more probability, conjectures that Pindar here adopts a 
delicate mode of expressing that they were beaten ; for, since the 
different pairs of combatants were appointed by lot, fortune might 
easily be charged with the ill success, for having matched a strong and 
a weak one together. 

*t* The poet again, as in the* two last odes, introduces the mention of 
the victor's trainer or second, on whose skill he seems to have con- 
sidered that the success in the combat much depended. This was 
probably more especially the case in the combats of youths. 

J The Ilitkyia of the Greeks was the same as the Lucina of the 



376 



NEMEAN ODES. 



ODE VII. 



We view — nor youth in strength's proportions fair 

Thy sister Hebe's* season reach. 
Yet all not one pursuit, one passion share ; 
Life hath its several yoke for each : 

Mark how Thearion's late-born son, 
Stout Sogenes, through thee begun 
Virtue's distinguish'd race ; and loud renown 
In circling soDgs proclaims his fresh Pentathlian crown. 

AXTISTROPHE I. 

For 'mongst the sons of ^Eacus he dwells : 

They love the clanging spear, the warlike lay ; 
They hail the aspiring heart, that pants and swells 

For the rough game, that courts the trying fray ; 
For whom the willing Muse mellifluous winds 

Her warbling stream. — 'Tis darkness all 
When bravery no recording minstrel finds, f 

Then valorous deeds reflected fall 

On the bright mirror's burnish'd plane, 
When inspiration's mindful strain 
Toil's everlasting recompense bestows, 
And round the embellish'd gift her rich embroidery throws. 

EPODE I. 

The wise, content not with life's present store, 

To the fair breeze that shall hereafter blow, 
Like prudent seamen, look. The rich, the poor, 

Alike to death's dark tomb must go : 
Then how in song their names shall shine 
Enhanced, let famed Ulysses show ; 
His woes, I ween, more brightly glow 
In sweetest Homer's words and rhapsody divine : 



Romans, and presided over child-birth. She was first worshipped at 
Delos, where she assisted at the birth of Apollo and Diana, having 
come there from the Hyperboreans. The Cretans, however, maintained 
that she came from Crete. Pausanias mentions that her statues were 
kept concealed from all but the priests, in Attica, Achaia, and at Corinth. 
— Paus. bk. i. ii. and vii. Lucius, the Delian, considered her the most 
ancient of the goddesses, and the same as Fate. 

* Hebe, as well as Ilithyia, was the daughter of Jupiter and Juno, 
according to Hesiod. 

f Horace introduces nearly the same thought, lib. iv. 9. 



ODE VII.] NEMEAN ODES. 377 



STROPHE IT. 

Round whose enchanting tale a sacred charm 

His winged art hath wound ; while genius deigns 
Beguile us with bewitching fictions warm, 

For vulgar eyes truth's radiant image strains : 
Could they her beams behold without disguise, 

Ne'er had the senseless sentence press'd 
Proud Ajax, for the lost celestial prize, 

To pierce his own indignant breast ; * 
Ajax, the fierce Achilles slain, 
Mightiest of all the boastful train 
Whose barks the west wind wafted o'er the tide 
From Phrygian force to wrest the frail all-beauteous bride. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Still, though death's wave without distinction roll 

O'er all alike, the nameless and the great, 
For warriors yet, that reach th' eternal goal, 

Approved of heaven, conspicuous honours wait. 
Thus, when the towers of Troy, so long by Greeks 

Assail' d, brave Pyrrhus to the skies 
In smouldering flames had whirl'd, the grove he seeks, 

In whose dark shades sequester'd lies 

The spacious earth's mysterious nave, 
And shrines him in a Pythian grave. 
"Wandering from Ilion's shore his bark had cross'd, 
Far off his native Scyre,t to Ephyra's distant coast. £ 

* After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses preferred their 
respective claims to the arms of this hero on the score of merit. The 
judges awarded them to Ulysses ; Ajax, driven to madness by the 
disappointment, first slaughtered a whole flock of sheep, supposing 
them to be the sons of Atreus, who had given the preference to 
Ulysses, and afterwards stabbed himself with his own sword, thus 
addiDg one to the innumerable calamities that attended the Grecian 
chiefs who were leagued in the Trojan war. — Sophocles, Ajax 
Mastigoph. 

*f* Scyros was a rocky island in the JEgenn sea, opposite to Eubcea. 
Achilles retired there to avoid going to the Trojan war, and became 
father of Neoptolemus (who was called Pyrrhus from the redness of his 
hair), by Deidamia, the daughter of Lycomedes, king of the island. 

X Ephyra's distant coast. The Ephyrahere mentioned was on the sea- 
coast of Epirus — not Corinxh, which anciently went by the same name. 



378 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE VII. 



EPODE II. 

There the Molossian realm awhile he sway'd, 

And many an age his sons the diadem wore : 
Thence to the Delphian god not long delay'd 

The first-fruits of his wars he bore — 
The wealth of Ilion's wasted pride. 

There for the plunder'd sacrifice, 
While his bold arm the priest defies, 
Fell'd by a stranger's axe, great Priam's conqueror* died. 

STROPHE IIL 

Sore grieved the Delphian hosts that foul disgrace ; 

Yet thus the debt of destiny he paid. 
Fate had required that of the iEacian race, 

Within that ancient grove for ever laid, 
Fast by the gorgeous fane, a king should rest ; 

Whose hallow'd shade with vigil pure, 
When fuming offerings heap'd th' heroic feast, 

The pompous ritual might secure. 

A word his rare desert rewards ; 
True to his trust the rites he guards, 
And fearless thus shall vouch — with virtue's ray 
Jove's and ^Egina's sons still light their glorious way. 



* Pindar here intends to represent that Neoptolemus came to his 
death by the hands of the priests of Delphi, whom he opposed in their 
indecent attempt to plunder and appropriate the sacrifices, according to 
a practice which had grown up among them. He was, however, 
aware, as is evident from his partial defence of himself in the 4th 
strophe, and in the 5th epode, that the death of Neoptolemus was 
related in different ways. One of these accounts was, that he was 
murdered at the instigation of Orestes, or by Orestes himself according 
to Virgil, Paterculus, and Hyginus, for having married Hermione, 
whom her father Menelaus had promised to Orestes. Another account 
is, that the object of his visit to Delphi was the plunder of the 
temple ; and that being slain in the attempt, he suffered the same 
death and indignities which he had inflicted in the temple of Minerva 
on the aged Priam and his family. Hence the ancients used the 
proverb Neoptolemic revenge, when a person suffered the same treatment 
he had inflicted upon others. 



ODE VII.] NEMEAN ODES. 379 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Here let our praises pause — rest pleases all ; 

Suspensions due the choicest sweets improve ; 
Sweet honey's self the satiate taste will pall ; 

Pall e'en the flowers of sweet luxurious love. 
Nature, that gives us life, and fire, and frame, 

With different wills inspires the breast ; 
Each feels his several impulse, none the same ; 

None e'er with eveiy bliss was blest ; 

Perfection's lot— that ne'er shall gleam 
In history's roll, or fancy's dream. 
Yet what kind fate to thee, Thearion, sends, 
Comes with a gilded grace the wish'd occasion lends.* 

EPODE III. 

Thine is the daring heart that throbs for fame, 

The mind where wisdom's beams unclouded play. 
Doubt not the Muse ; a stranger's faith I claim ; 

No slander lurks in honour's lay : 
But, pure and plenteous as the flood 

That warbles from the limpid spring, 
My friend's unquestion'd praise I sing ; 
'Tis virtue's earn'd return, the wages of the good. 

STROPHE IV. 

Not e'en the Achaean chief,f whose mansion wild 

O'erhangs the Ionian wave, my strain shall blame : 

Our states in friendship mix ; with aspect mild 
And clear I greet my countrymen ; my aim 

* The good fortune of Thearion was particularly well timed in this 
respect, that Sogenes having, according to the Scholiast, been born to 
him in his old age, the son nevertheless by his very early prowess en- 
abled the father in his lifetime to witness his successful career. 

+ The Achaean chief here intended is supposed by the Scholiast to be 
Neoptolemus, to whom he apologizes for attributing his death to so 
trifling an occasion as a quarrel about the sacrifices and offerings. The 
Myrmidons, whose throne Neoptolemus inherited, and of whom he car- 
ried some with him to Ephyre on the Ionian sea, were also called 
Acbaeans according to Homer : — 

Full fifty ships beneath Achilles' care 

Th' Achaeans, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear. 

Iliad, ii. 684.— Pope, 1. 834. 



380 



NEMEAST ODES. 



[ode VIL 



I grudge not for the brave 



No forced extreme, no violent end pursues 

(So pass in peace iny closing day) : 
Challenge my dearest inmates, if my Muse 
To slander's lust e'er lent her lay. 
O Sogenes, whose generous race 
Th' Euxenian tribe shall ne'er disgrace, 
Beyond truth's mark, I swear, my glowing tongue 
Flings not thy random praise, the javelin of her song. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Thou with unswelter'd neck, with limbs untired, 

Didst in thy gripe the wrestler's rage repress, 
Ere day's meridian flame thy limbs had fired ; — 
Toil, that but raised the raptures of success, 
Bear with my frenzy, if I rage and rave 
When victory bids my pinion soar ; 
'Tis the heart's grace 

To stake my spirit's wealthiest store. 
No skill the vulgar chaplets ask ; 
Beck not, my Muse, the unworthy task : 
Thou, with rich ivory chased, thy golden crown 
Dost weave with choral flowers from fostering sea-dews 
blown. 

EPODE IV. 

But when thy Nemean hymn the praise of Jove 

Bemembers, with soft hand thy glorious lyre 
And touch chastised in modest numbers move. 

On that famed isle the sceptred sire 
Of all the gods with reverend voice 

Besound : for there in happiest hour 
iEgina's womb the genial power 
With -^Eacus impregn'd, and bade her rocks rejoice. 

STROPHE V. 

He thy paternal brother, and thine host, 

Great Hercules, first raised our country's fame * — 

Her prince and patron. Oh ! if man may boast t 

Man's friendship ; if, with hearts and hopes the same, 



■ 



* Our country's fame. As Pindar was of Thebes, and ^Eacus was 
king of ^Egina, this passage is not to be explained, except by attribut- 



ODE VII.] KEXEAX ODES. 381 

Associates dear in sweet fraternity- 
Life's purest joys delighted share, 
And gods such bliss may taste ; oh, then, with thee, 
• Whose mastery quell'd the Titaus' war, 
Brave Sogenes by fortune blest, 
While filial reverence warms his breast, 
Within these sacred walls, th' august retreat 
Of all his affluent sires, will fix his favourite seat : 

ANTISTROPHE V. 

For as the parting pole on either hand 

Flanks the quadriga] chariot's gilded yoke, 
Between thy stately fanes his turrets stand. 

Blest youth ! him sooth'd by thee with prospering look 
Jove and great Juno and the blue-eyed Maid 

Shall guard : for, when disasters press, 
Oft helpless man thy prompt exertions aid. 

Vouchsafe, benignant sire, to bless 

His youth with power, his age with length 
Of years, contentment, health, and strength ; 
"Vouchsafe the late descendants of his sons 
Their father's fame shall share, augmenting as it runs. 



ing to it a considerable poetic license. Either the allusion must be to the 
sisterhood of the two kingdoms, deriving their names respectively from. 
iEgina and Thebe, two of the daughters of Asopus ; or else Trdroa, 
country, is to be taken in an extended sense for Greece in general. In 
corroboration of the former explanation is the account of Herodotus 
(Terpsic. c. 79, 80), that the Thebans, having been directed by the 
Delphic oracle to claim assistance from those who were nearest to them — 
T&v dyxi<TTa — interpreted tbis expression as relating to nearness of 
blood, and accordingly applied to the iEginetans. If the latter inter- 
pretation is to be preferred, the allusion is probably to the occasion upon 
which iEacus rendered service to the whole of Greece when oppressed by 
a famine. 

+ Oh! if man may boast, &c. The subject and allusion of the fol- 
lowing apostrophe is the situation of the house of Sogenes, which hap- 
pened to be placed between two temples dedicated to Hercules, according 
to the Scholiast. 



382 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ODE VIII. 



EPODE V. 

But for myself ne'er shall my conscience say, 
Whate'er unheeded calumny may feign, 
That Neoptolemus my slanderous lay 

Deign'd with unjust reproach to stain; — 
But 'twere wit's weakness to disprove 

The three-times-thrice refuted lie, 
To waste on wayward infancy 
The grandam's endless tale of " Corinth sprung from Jove."' 3 



ODE VIII. 

TO DEISTS, THE SON OF MEGAS, OF jEGISTA, 

Victor in the Single Foot-race. 

STROPHE I. 

Herald of love's ambrosial joys, 

That on the lids of laughing boys 
And bright-eyed maids dost sit, enchanting Youth ! 

"Whose heedless guidance, as the soul 

Unpractised feels thy wild control, 
Leads this to rapture, that to ruth : — 

Yet oh ! when 02^portunity, 

That warns all fortune's works to move, 

Gives the kind hour, , how sweet to be 
The lord of every virtuous love. 



* " Corinth sprwng from Jove " seems to have been an expression pro- 
verbially denoting anything often and tediously repeated, in allusion 
probably to some story in which it frequently recurred. Two such 
stories are suggested by the Scholiast ; both of them, however, equally 
unsatisfactory and insufficient to explain the expression. 



ODE VIII.] NEMEAN ODES. 383 



ANTISTROPHE I. 

Such love, as round the genial bed 

For Jove and blest ^Egina spread, 
Served the rich gifts voluptuous Venus brought : 

Thence sprung the wise, the warlike son, 

Whose greatness graced (Enone's throne : 
Thousands with prayers his presence sought ; 

Unforced, uncall'd, the pride and flower 

Of all the states that groan'd around,* 

Spontaneous to his hallow'd power 

Trusted their griefs, their welfare bound : — 

EPODE I. 

Heroes and sapient seers, that sway'd 

The sage Athenians' rocky strand, 
And Pelops' sons by Spartan chiefs obey'd. 

Thus for that favourite isle's heroic band 
The reverend knees, f in suppliant guise, 

Of iEacus I clasp, and with me bring 
My Lydian wreath, of various minstrelsies, 

Round Deinis' brows and Megas' bust to fling — 
Each for his Nemean race, the son's and father's prize 
Unfading joys to him are given 
"Whose fortune's seed is sown in heaven. 



* All the states that groan'd aroimd. The occasion here alluded to 
was that of a dreadful drought and famine which afflicted the whole of 
Greece, when it was declared by the oracle that the prayers of iEacus 
alone would be capable of diverting the wrath of Heaven. Accordingly 
rain was granted to his own country, and to the whole of Greece, at the 
supplication of himself and his sons. — See Nem. ode v. ep. i. ^Eacus 
obtained during his life such a reputation for integrity, that the ancient 
fables of the Greeks made him one of the judges of hell, with Minos and 
Rhadamanthus. 

t TJie reverend hnees of jEacus I clasp. Taking his idea from the 
supplication of the Grecian chiefs to ^Eacus during his lifetime in 
behalf of Greece in general, the poet supplicates him now as the tute- 
lary hero of iEgina in favour of that island, and of Deinis and his father 
Megas. 



384 SEMEA2J ODES. [ODE VIII. 



STROPHE II. 

With hoards of -wealth heaven's bounteous grace 

Loaded the Cyprian Cinyras : * 
Breathe here, my Muse, and rest thy nimble feet — 

Oft hath that various tale been told : 

And perilous 'tis with fictions bold 
The test of censure's glance to meet. 

The adventurous bard is envy's prey — 
Envy, that bravely mounts the skies, 

Stoops not the pinion iools to slay, 

But makes her quarry of the wise. 

A2JTISTR0PHE II. 

'Twas envy's hand with frenzy's sword 

Th' indignant heart of Ajax gored. 
TJngrac'd with eloquence, by weaker foes 

Defeated, valour sometimes flies 

The wordy warfare, while the prize 
To varnish'd falsehood folly throws. 

Thus duped the Greeks with lots conceal'd 
The false Ulysses glorified ; 

Bobb'd of his casque and golden shield 
Ajax himself assail'd and died. 

EPODE II. 

Ah ! how unlike in war's rough hour 

The blows they dealt, the blood they drew ! 
From their strain'd arms with what unequal pow'r 

Against the conscious foe their javelins flew ! 
Strove they for great Achilles slain, 

Or join'd the slaughters of the general fray. 
Thus used of old was flattery's hateful bane, 

Winning with wheedling words her treacherous way — 
Artificer of fraud, man's mischief and his' stain : 

The great she levels, but to raise 

The mouldering glory of the base. 

* Cinyras, king of Cyprus, and priest of Venus, was the father of 
Adonis by his own daughter Myrrha. His opulence, like that of 
Croesus, was proverbial. 



ODE VIII.] NEMEAN ODES. 385 



STROPHE III. 

O grant me of thy grace divine, 

Great Jove, such meanness ne'er be mine ; 
Teach me through life truth's simple path to find, 

That my sons blush not for their sire. 

Some showers of gold from heaven require, 
Others for boundless plains have pined ; 

Grant me my country's smiles to meet, 

And let these limbs the grave devour ; 

Still probity with praise I'll greet, 

Still on the knave my vengeance pour. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Virtue exalted by the Muse, 

As the tall pine refresh'd with dews 
Lifts to the fostering heaven its branching head, 

Among the just in glory thrives. 

A thousand helps kind friendship gives, 
Most when the conqueror's fame they spread. 

Exulting victory still requires 

The gazer's eye, the blazon'd name — 

Oh ! Megas, that thy minstrel's fires 

Could from the shades thy soul reclaim ! 

EPODE III. 

Presumptuous wish, whose transient blaze 

Gleams on the scene but traced and gone ! 
Yet for thy Chariad tribe his skill can raise 

Th' eternal pillar of Pierian stone, 
Where all thy graved exploits may read — 

The twofold triumph. 'Tis my boast to build 
The proud memorial equal to the deed. 

Oft hath sweet bard the champion's toil beguiled ; 
Long since the encomiast hymn was might's heroic meed ; 
Before Adrastus' Theban fray* 
Our grandsires kindled at the lay. 

* Adrastus, king of Argos, led the seven chiefs in their war against 
Thebes, on the side of Polynices, who, having been banished by his 
brother Eteocles, and fled to Adrastus, married his daughter Argia. 

Respecting Adrastus, and the fatal termination of the war of the 
Seven against Thebes, more will be found in the next ode. 

2c 



386 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ode 



IX. 



ODE IX.* 

TO CHROMIUS OP ^ETNA, 

Victor in the Chariot-race. 

STROPHE I. 

From Sicyon's field, ye powers of song, 
"We'll lead the choiring pomp along 

To new-built iEtna'st echoing wall ; 
"Where Chromius' gates unfolded wide 
Scarce take the stranger's pressing tide 

That crowds his hospitable hall. 
Strike ye the chords, your sweetest hymn prepare ; 

On this triumphal day, 
Mounting his bright victorious car, 

To the great Mother and her offspring twain, 
Guardians of Pytho's towering fane, 

He consecrates the swelling lay. 

STROPHE II. 

'Twas held of old, and many a tongue 
In every age the truth has sung, 

That virtuous action to the ground 
Sinks not in silence long to pine ; 
But 'tis the living song divine 

That spreads th' unboasted glory round. 



* The subjects of this and the two following odes are not victories at 
the Nemean games, though placed among the Nemean odes. This vic- 
tory of Chromius was obtained in the Pythian games at Sicyon. 

f New-built jEtna. Hiero, king of Syracuse, had lately refounded 
and restored Catana, and perhaps given it at the same time the name of 
iEtna ; or, as is more probable, it had before obtained both these names 
indifferently. Hence it is called the new-built iEtna. He had also 
appointed Chromius to be governor of it, who is thence called in this 
place the ^Etnaean. Catana is remarkable for the dreadful overthrows 
to which it has been subjected from its proximity to Mount iEtna. 



ODE IX.] NEMEAN ODES. 387 

Twang now the trembling lyre, the clarion fill, 

Sound we the chariot's game. 
Which erst by old Asopus' rill 

Adrastus hallow'd * to the God of day, 
And, as we sing, the grateful lay 

Shall crown th' heroic founder's name. 

STROPHE III. 

A stranger on that throne he sat, 
And dignified the adopted state 

With new-form'd feasts and solemn shows, 
Where strength with strength adventuring strove, 
And still the circling chariot drove ; 

He by faint friends and daring foes, 
Amphiareus' train, encompass'd round, 

His Argive realms had fled ; 
Where now, by plots and plans unsound 

Expell'd, no more the sons of Talaus reign'd.t 
Let fools the vain dispute maintain ; 

Peace only springs from wisdom's head. 

f Adrastus hallow'd. Pindar perhaps uses a poetical license in 
making Adrastus the first founder of the games at Sicyon, for the sake 
of dignifying his subject. 

t No more the sons of Talaus reigrid. The kingdom of Sicyon was 
the most ancient in 'Greece, and in the earliest times was of so great 
importance, as to give its name to the whole of Peloponnesus. It 
ceased, however, so early as B. C. 1088, and of its history little is known 
except the names of its kings. The story here alluded to is somewhat 
variously told — Herodotus, and Mensechmus according to the Scholiast, 
making Adrastus to be the grandson, and others calling him the son-in- 
law of Polybus, whose throne he inherited in Sicyon. Dieutychidas 
gives the most detailed account, as found in the Scholiast. He relates 
that the daughters of Praetus, king of Argos, being insane, Melanippus 
the soothsayer undertook to cure them on receiving two-thirds of the 
kingdom. This he performed, and the half of his share he gave to his 
brother Bias, so that the whole kingdom was divided into three parts, 
between the descendants of Melanippus, Bias, and Praetus. Amphia- 
raus was the descendant of Melanippus, who, quarrelling with Talaus, 
the son of Bias, and father of Adrastus, put him to death. Adrastus 
fled to Sicyon, where he married the daughter of Polybus. So that 
Adrastus and his brothers, the sons of Talaus, ceased to reign in Argos. 
Adrastus having succeeded to the throne of Polybus, who died without 
an heir, instead of harbouring his resentment, entered into terms with 
Amphiaraus, and cemented their friendship by giving him his sister 
Eriphyle in marriage, as the poet proceeds to relate. 
2 c2 



388 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE IX. 



STROPHE IV. 

'Twas thus, his sapient rival's rage 
By love's all-softening pow'r to 'suage, 

Fair Eriphyle's virgin charms, 
Faith's surest pledge, Adrastus gave ; 
Thus leagued, the first of Danaans brave,* 

Again they join'd their threatening arms ; 
Forth to sev'n-portall'd Thebes their bands they drew, 

Their-long combined array ; 
Though birds ill-omen'd round them flew ; 

Though hostile Jove disheartening thunders peal'd, 
Thwarting the desperate march they held, 

And warn'd them from the fatal way. 

STROPHE V. 

Still pressing on with furious haste 
Madly the advancing doom they faced ; 

The field with brazen helmets burns ; 
"With brass the snorting war-steeds gleam ; 
From choked Ismenus' t crimson stream 

None of that countless host returns. 
Sev'n brightening flames each on his several pyre 

Sev'n youthful champions feed ; 
Jove, with his bolt's all-conquering fire, 

Cleft for Amphiareus earth's yawning womb, 
And closed in one portentous tomb 

Champion and chariot, arms and steed — 



* First of Danaans. The royal family of Argos was derived from 
Danaus. Praetus was the son of Abas, and Abas was the son of 
Lynceus by Hypermnestra, the daughter of Danaus. — Apollod. 
lib. ii. c. ii. 

t Mr. Dodwell (vol. i. p. 266) informs us that the Ismenus is at pre- 
sent but an insignificant stream, having less pretensions to the title of 
a river than even the Athenian Ilissus, for it has no water except after 
heavy rains. It then becomes a torrent, and rushes into the lake of 
Nytica, about four miles west of Thebes. 



ODE IX.] NE.UEAX ODES. 389 



STROPHE VI. 

Ere Periclymenus' javelin came 

"With dastard's wound Lis back to shame, 

As from that fire, with quivering eye, 
The prophet warrior tum'd away ; * 
For when heaven sends the strange dismay 

E'en sons of gods will quail and fly. 
O ward, Saturnian Jove, if fate permit, 

From ^Etna's rising towers 
The invader's rage, the desperate fight, 

The chains ev'n now Phoenician threats prepare : 
Grant her the blessings long to share 

That law from concord's fountain pours : 

STROPHE VII. 

Give her, great Jove, the nobler shade, 
Where glory twines her civic braid ; 

For she hath sons that love the race, 
Rule the swift steed ; whose bosoms hold 
Souls that disdain the lust of gold : 

Doubt not such hearts are virtue's place. 
Honour, the fount of glory, steals away, 
By gain's mean arts beguiled — 
Squire thou young Chromius to the fray ; 

Mark how in bark or band he braves the fight, 
The perilous spear, the horseman's might ; 
On rock or rampart, flood or field : 

* Amphiaraus, being skilled in the knowledge of futurity, well knew 
that he was to perish in the war of the Argives against Thebes, and 
concealed himself to avoid accompanying it. His wife, Eriphyle, 
suffered herself to be bribed to discover his retreat by a famous necklace 
wrought by Vulcan, and formerly given by Venus to Harmonia, the 
wife of Cadmus. To this Homer alludes — 

There Eriphyle weeps, who loosely sold 
Her lord, her honour, for the lust of gold. — Popes Homer. 
Amphiaraus accordingly accompanied the expedition and perished in 
the manner here related, having left a command with his son Alcmaeon 
to kill Eriphyle as soon as he heard of his own death, which was 
•executed. 

Pausanias (bk. viii.) relates that Alcmaeon, after punishing his 
mother's treachery, fled from Argos to Phegia, and married Alphesiboea, 



390 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ODE IX. 



STROPHE VIII. 

For honour, like a god, hath dress'cl 
In adamant his warlike breast, 

And taught him, when his country calls, 
To meet unmoved the deadliest foe. 
Few are the fiery souls that know, 

When war's fierce tempest heaviest falls, 
Back on th' assailant's arms and wavering ranks 

With hand and heart to turn 
The wasteful wreck. Scamander's banks 

For Hector's brow thick wreaths of glory bore ; 
On deep Helorus' dangerous shore 

The rival crowns of Chromius burn : — 



STROPHE IX. 

There at th' Areian pass,* its mortal name, 
His country's boast, Agesidame, 

Thy son the Punic spear defied, 
Yet but a youth, and round his head 
The radiant beams of conquest spread. 

Fain would I tell what deeds beside 



the daughter of Phegeus, to whom he gave the fatal necklace. 
Calliroe, the daughter of Achelous, whom he afterwards married, 
having conceived a violent longing for the necklace, Alcmseon lost 
his life in attempting to recover it from the sons of Phegeus. The sons 
of Phegeus consecrated it in the temple of Delphi. In his ninth book 
he states that this famous necklace was said in his time to be in an 
ancient temple of Venus and Adonis in Cyprus, having been stolen from 
Delphi by the tyrants of Phocis. Pausanias, however, expresses a 
doubt of its identity. 

* At th' Areian pass. The Areian pass was all the part about Ehe- 
gium and the straits of Messina, according to the Scholiast. The river 
Helorus was situated a little above Pachynum, the south-eastern pro- 
montory of Sicily. It is called by Virgil (jEn. iii. 698) the stagnant 
Helorus, from the slow course of its waters, and its habit of overflowing 
its banks periodically. The fertility produced by these inundations, and 
the beauty of its banks, occasioned Ovid to call the valleys through 
which it flows Heloria Tempe. — Fast. iv. 475. 

The present allusion may be to some battle which took place in the 
wars with the Carthaginians, already mentioned in the sixth strophe. 



ODE IX.] NEMEAN ODES. 391 

On land he dared and on the neighbouring brine ! 

Bright are the champion's days, 
And calm and prosperous his decline, 

Whose strenuous youth for just renown has fought. 
Know, Chromius, know 'tis heaven that wrought 
The rare success thy lot displays. 

strophe x. 

For when brave wealth and hard-earn'd praise 
One gifted head conspire to raise, 

"lis not for mortal step to gain 
A loftier stand on fortune's hill, 
A nobler destiny to fill. 

Sweet concord suits the social train, 
And the green bough which brave desert receives 

The lay's soft flowers enhance : 
But 'tis the generous bowl that gives 

Clearness and courage to the minstrel's throat — 
The prompting prophet of his note. 

Bid the mingling beverage dance, 

STROPHE XL 

The silver circling goblets shine 

With the stout offspring of the vine ; — 

Goblets, which erst in Chromius' car,* 
Crown'd with Apollo's glittering* bough, 
Which justice weaves for glory's brow, 

The conquering coursers whirl'd from far— 
From Sicyon's sacred field. Celestial sire, 

Grant to thy suppliant's hope 
Thy graces to assist his lyre, 

Chromius above all youths in fame to raise, 
And fling the javelin of my praise 

Full at the skilful muse's scope. 

* In the Pythian games at Sicyon, the prizes, says the Scholiast, were 
not only crowns, but silver cups. He also supposes the victor not to 
have returned home after his victory, but to have sent his chariot to 
attend the triumphal procession. 



392 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ODE X. 



ODE X. 

TO THEIJ2US, SON OF ULIAS, 

Victor in the Game of Wrestling. 



STROPHE I. 

Argos, the kingly seat 
Of Dan'aus and his fifty daughters fair, 

Juno's august abode, for godhead meet, 
Sing, heavenly Graces : Virtue there 
Glows in a thousand glorious deeds. 
Of regions vast and winged steeds, 
And how the beauteous Gorgon fell, 
By Perseus foil'd, 'twere long to tell : * 
Shine not on Egypt's shore with gorgeous hand 
By Epaphus unnumber'd cities rear'd 1 1 

And who admires not, when the guiltless brand 
By Hypermnestra sheath'd her slumbering bridegroom 
spared ? 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

A bright immortal god 
Diomede J the beauteous blue-eyed Virgin made. 

Touch'd by the Thunderer's arm and radiant rod 
Earth in her Theban bosom laid 



* See Pyth. ode x. ep. ii. stro. iii. antist. iii. 

+ Epaphus was the founder of Memphis, which he named after his 
wife. His daughter Libya gave her name to a part of Africa. From 
her sprung, according to Apollodorus, in the second generation, accord- 
ing to others, immediately, -^Egyptus and Danaus ; from the latter of 
whom descended the royal family of Argos. 

X Diomede was the son of Deiphyle, the daughter of Adrastus, whom 
Tydeus married when he had taken refuge at her father's court. Hence 
he is here ranked among the heroes of Argos. — Apollod. i. 8. Strabo 
mentions an altar which was raised to him as a god on the Timavus, a 
river running into the most northern part of the Adriatic gulf, close to 
the modern Trieste. • 



ODE X.] NEMEAN ODES. 393 

The prophet-son of (Ecleus proud,* 
In war the battle's threatening cloud. 
Before all cities Argos claims 
The palm for beauty's bright-hair'd dames ; 
Jove bear me witness : — from th' ethereal throne 
Alcmena's domes he sought and Danae's tower : 

He, in Adrastus' sire and Lynceust shown, 
Bade upright justice bloom with wisdom's fruitful flower. 

EPODE I. 

He bless'd Amphitryon's conquering sword, 

His prosperous house with treasures stored ; 

And while the distant warrior, brazen-mail'd, 

The fierce Telebbanij; hosts assail'd, 

Couch'd in his form and mortal guise 

Th' eternal sovereign of the skies 
Within his courts the genial presence show'd, 

Mix'd his celestial race with his, 

And rear'd the undaunted Hercules : — 

Spouse of the rosy blooming bride 

That walks by Juno's matron side, 
Heb&, the fairest form in all the blest abode. § 

STEOPHE II. 

Words have no warmth to paint 
The glorious stores of endless excellence 

That gild the shrine of Argos : praise grows faint, 
And palls the admirer s satiate sense. 

* See Nem. ode ix. stro. v. vi. 

t Lynceus, the only one of the fifty sons of iEgyptus, who escaped 
being slain upon the wedding night, having been spared by his wife 
Hypermnestra, when all the others were killed by the daughters of 
Danaus. Abas, according to Apollodorus, was the son of Lynceus, by 
Hypermnestra ; Abas had a son, Acrisius, who was the father of Danae ; 
and Perseus, the son of Danae, was the father of Electryon, who was 
the father of Alcmena. Talaus, Adrastus' sire, has been already men- 
tioned in the last ode, stro. iii. 

£ The Tcleboans were a people addicted to piracy, who inhabited 
some small islands lying between Leucadia and Acarnania. Mr. Dod- 
well describes the former condition and the present state of these islands, 
and collects together the authorities which identify them with the 
Taphians.— Dod. Tr. vol. i. p. 60. 

§ See Nem. ode i. ep. iv. 



394 



2TEMEAX ODES. 



[ODE X. 



Yet shall the wrestler's deeds inspire 
The raptures of the well-strung lyre, 
To sound through all th' Argolic field 
The conflict of the brazen shield 
By Juno's fuming altar, where the throng 
Hails young Theiseus, as the dazzling spoil 

The twice -crown'd son of Ulias bears along, 
And quaffs from glory's cup th' oblivion of his toil. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

First of the first he shone 
'Mongst all the Hellenian host in Pytho's groves ; 

Isthmian and Nemean crowns his prowess won ; 
Fortune still follows as he moves. 

Thrice at the gates that flank the main,* 

Thrice on the consecrated plain 

"Whose weal th' Adrastian laws diffuse, 

He sow'd the harvest of the Muse. 
Paternal Jove J the wish that fires his breast 
His lip reveals not : but all things in thee 

End and begin : by dangers none repress'd, 
His toil-train'd heart but asks what all the brave would be. 

EPODE II. 

What the Muse hopes thy godhead knows ; 

Knows he whose soul for glory glows, 

Who pants to bind him with th' Heraclian wreaths, 

Which Pisa's noblest rite bequeaths. 

Him twice the sweet triumphal song, 

Breathed from the moving choir, among 
Panathenaic pomps and festal cries, 

Proclaim'd. In clay-burnt shrine inurn'd 

Th' anointed victor's oil return'd 

To Juno's towers, whose gathering crowd, 

With marv'lling looks, and cheerings loud, 
Gazed on the pictured wall that fenced the liquid prize, t 

* Gates that flank the main. The isthmus of Corinth is not unfre- 
quently called the gate of the ocean. In the following lines, the Pythian 
games at Sicyon are probably not intended, but the Nemean, which were 
within the territory of Sicyon, over which Adrastus reigned, as related 
in the last ode. 

f Tlie pictured wall that fenced the liquid prize. The allusion is to the 



ODE X.] NEMEAN ODES. 395 



STROPHE III. 

Nor less the rich renown 
Gain'd in the games thy famed maternal race 

Pursues ; them Leda's* twins with many a crown, 
With many a song the Muses grace. 

Oh ! were I sprung from Antias' line, 

Were Thrasyclus my noble kin, 

With no sunk port, no drooping face, 

Would I 'mong proudest Argives pace 
Praetus' wide city — whose conquests who shall count ? 
Mistress of steeds ! from Corinth's winding shore, 

From Nemea's grove, by fair Cleonse's mount, 
Four times her envied sons the verdant victory bore. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

In Sicyon's conflicts won 

With sparkling wine their silver goblets glow'd : 
The wool-wove stole Pellene's dames had spun, 

Soft from their trophied shoulders flow'd. 
But to review the brazen spoils, 
The ponderous arms that paid their toils, 
'Twere vain ; nor shall the attempt abuse 
The leisure of the pressing Muse : 
Arms that from Tegea, from Clitorium came, 

From towns that glitter'd on th' Achaean steep, 
From Jove's Lycsean mount,t and many a game 

That proved the vigorous arm, the foot-race, and the leap. 



vessel of oil which was given as a prize to every victor at the Panathe- 
naic festival at Athens, it being unlawful for any other person to export 
this commodity. 

* Leda's twins. Pollux was generally esteemed the god and patron 
of boxing and wrestling, and Castor of horsemanship and the chariot- 
race. — ApoUod. iii. 11. 

t From Jove's Lyccean mount. Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus (ApoUod. 
iii. 8), was the first king of Arcadia, 1,820 years B. C. He built the 
town here alluded to, called Lycosura, upon the top of Mount Lycasus, 
in honour of Jupiter. Two of his sons, Tegeates and Clitor, built Tegea 
and Clitorium, just before mentioned, in the same country. Mr. Dodwell 
(vol. ii. pp. 418-420) describes the present remains of Tegea, which 
are extensive and interesting. 



396 KEMEAN ODES. [ODE X. 



EPODE III. 

What wonder yet that nature's flame 

Warm'd them to win the champion's fame ! 

When Pollux erst with godlike Castor pair'd 

The social roof of Pamphaes shared 

(Whose blood thy sires, Theiaeus, boast), 

And sojourn'd with th' heroic host. 
For they, wide regents of the Spartan land, 

With Hercules and Hermes join'd, 

The wreaths of conquest blast or bind, 

And guard with more than mortal trust 

The cares and honours of the just. 
Our«faith, our reverend love, the sons of heaven command. 

STKOPHE IV. 

They, with alternate change, 
To-day in Jove's celestial mansion dwell — 

To-morrow through Therapnse's vales they range, 
And shroud them in their earthly celL 
Thus, join'd in glory as in woe, 
The same coeval doom they know ; 
Strange doom ! which rather than receive 
Godhead unqualified, and live 
Imperishable in heaven's eternal sphere, 
Great Pollux chose, since Castor breathed no more — 

Whom haply Idas with his brazen spear 
Wrangling for worthless herds, stretch'd lifeless on the 
shore.* 

* Pindar, in the account which he here gives of the death of Castor, 
seems to follow most nearly the story adopted by Apollodorus. The 
most current account was, that being invited to a feast where Idas and 
Lynceus were about to celebrate their marriage with Phoebe and Talaira, 
the daughters of Leucippus, who was brother to Tyndarus, they 
attempted to carry off the brides, which occasioned the encounter in 
which Castor was killed. Apollodorus says, that the Dioscuri had before 
married Phoebe and Talaira, and that having joined Idas and Lynceus 
in stealing and carrying off some cattle out of Arcadia, Idas was 
intrusted to divide the spoil, and took the whole to his own and his 
brother's share. The Dioscuri following them, hid themselves under an 
oak, where Lynceus, espying them, killed Castor. Pollux in return 
killed Lynceus ; but being wounded by Idas, with a stone, Jupiter 



ODE X.] SBMKA* ODES. 397 



ANTISTROPHE IV. 

Him 'gainst an oak reclined 
Lynceus from far Taygetus descried — * 

Lynceus, whose searching ken 'bove all mankind 
The clearest, keenest glance supplied. 

Bent on surprise, with vengeance bold, 

They sallied from their mountain hold, 

(Weak sons of Aphareus ! ) and with speed 

Plann'd and despatch'd the deadly deed. 
Ill-counselTd deed — too soon the wrath of Jove 
To rue — for now behind them close at hand 

Came Leda's threatening son, whose power to prove 
Fast by their father's tomb they fix'd their desperate stand. 

EPODE IV. 

Thence in their haste a ponderous rock, 

The sculptured bust of death, they broke, 

And with dire impulse and direction true 

Full at the breast of Pollux threw. 

He sunk not, but right onward sprung, 

By foul assault more fierce, and flung, 
Through Lynceus' heart transfix'd, his brazen lance. 

Jove at that instant in his ire 

Smote Idas with his bolted fire, 

And squander'd in the desert air 

The corses of the smouldering pair. 
Hard is the strife when men 'gainst heavenly foes advance. 

STROPHE V. 

Quick from that blasted ground 
To Castor's aid th' afflicted brother flies ; 

Him not yet dead, but shuddering damp he found, 
With breath scarce heaved and half-closed eyes. 

despatched Idas with a thunder-bolt. — Apollod. lib. iii. c. viii. See 
Theocritus, Idyll, xxiii. and Ovid, Fast. v. 

* Taygetus is a mountain of Laconia. It hung over the city of 
Lacedaemon, and a part of it is said to have once fallen and destroyed a 
part of the suburbs. Mr. Dodwell describes it as a mountain of singu- 
larly beautiful and varied outline (vol. ii. p. 392). 



398 NEMEAN ODES. [ODE X. 

Pierced at the sight, with heart-warm tears, 
Groaning to heaven his voice he rears : — 
" Saturnian sire, what blest release, 
" What pause remains for grief like this 1 
" Grant me with him to die, merciful king ! 
" Honour of friends bereft hath lost his stay, 

" Droops and is gone ; and few be they that bring 
" The heart life's toils to share, and cheer us through the 
" day." 

AOTISTKOPHE V. 

Such was his noble prayer ; 
When face to face before him standing shone 

Visible Jove, and spake : — " Hear, warrior, hear, 
M Thou art mine own authentic son ; 

" Him, with thy beauteous mother pair'd, 

" Of mortal seed a hero rear'd. 

" Mark now the large alternative, 

" To thy free wish the choice I give : 
" If 'tis thy will from death's cold grasp to fly, 
" From weak detested age and nature's waste, 
" With warlike Pallas in the sun-bright sky, 
" And sable-lanced Mars, eternal youth to taste — 

epode v. 

" Such lot supreme 'tis thine to prove : — 

" But if thy zeal, thy godlike love, 

" Prompts and impels thee for thy brother's sake 

" Dividual doom with him to take, 

" Half thy divine eternity 

" In earth's dark womb with him must lie, 
" Half in the golden domes of heaven's domain." 

The father paused — the brother's breast 

No doubt perplex'd, no dread repress'd : 

His touch the death-chain'd lids unbound, 

Loosed from his lips the thrilling sound, 
His brazen helm unclasp'd, and Castor lived again. 



ODE XL J KEMEAX ODES. 399 



ODE XL 

TO AR1STAGORAS, THE PRYTANIS OP TENEDOS, SON OF 
ARCHESILAUS. 



STROPHE I. 

Vesta, that hold'st the Prytansean hall,* 
From Rhea sprung, sister of highest Jove 
And Juno that partakes his throne above — 
Into thy stately chamber deign to call 
Sage Aristagoras, thy sceptred hand 
Beside install'd with all his band. 
They to thy glory in thy sight 
Through Tenedos dispense wisdom and power and right. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Eldest of gods, they, with libations pour'd, 

With fragrant offerings oft thy rites prolong, 
And trembling lyres resound and sacred song, 
While genial Themis her perpetual board 

Heaps with the feasts of hospitable Jove. 
Grant him with heart unwrung to move 
Unblamed through all the important year, 
And straight by virtue's star his glorious course to steer. 

EPODE I. 

Let not the cheering numbers pass 

His sire, the blest Arcesilas, 
Th' accomplish'd form and cognate fortitude : 
Yet let fond man, with wealth endued, 

* Prytancean hall. The Prytanes at Athens, and they were probably 
nearly the same at Tenedos, were certain magistrates who presided over 
the senate, and had the privilege of convoking it. They assembled in a 
large hall, called the Prytanseum, where they offered sacrifices, gave 
audience, and deliberated. The Prytanes, at Athens, were ten in num- 
ber, chosen annually from each of the ten tribes, each presiding in his 
turn thirty-five days, so as to divide the year among them. — Pott. Gr. 
Ant. vol. i. pp. 107, 108, 117. Pausanias (bk. i.) says that the laws of 
Solon were written up in the Prytanseum, in which were also kept the 
statues of Peace and Vesta. 






400 



NEMEAN ODES. 



[ODE XI. 



"With charms of shape transcendant graced, 
Midst the proud games 'mongst all the bold 

For brave achievement foremost placed, 
Forget not that his limbs are mortal mould, 
That earth, man's latest garb, that boasted frame must hold. 

STKOPHE II. 

With patriot speech, with civic eulogy, 
Still Aristagoras 'tis meet to praise, 
And round his brow, with loud mellifluous lays 
Warbling his deeds, th' embellish'd crown to tie. 
His and his country's name by him renown'd, 
Won from the bordering states around, 
Sixteen great conquests signalize, 

The dexterous wrestler's wreath, the tough Pentathlian 
prize. 

A2JTISTROPHE II. 

Him sickly hope and pale parental fear 

Held from the perils of the Pythian field, 
From the rich risks Olympian chaplets yield : ' 
Else (by my judgment's pledge, my oath, I swear) 
From those stern pastimes his superb return 
Had left his vanquish'd foes to mourn 
By lone Castalia's murmuring rill, 
And seek the sheltering oaks that shade the Cronian hill ; * 

EPODE II. 

Else, through the loud quinquennial throng 
His pomp triumphal moved along, 
With purple branches wreathed, the Heraclian feast 
Had crown'd. But man's inconstant breast 
Oft, by presumptuous hope betray'd, 
Quits for wild dreams the bliss long known ; 

Oft manliest might, with youth display'd, 
Cold cowardice with heartless tongue talks down, 
Plucks back th' adventurer's arm, and scares him from the 



* Castalia, near Delphi, is here used for the Pythian, and the hill 
near Olympia, consecrated to Cronus, for the Olympian games. 



ODE XI.] NEMEAN ODES. 401 



STROPHE III. 

"Who would not vouch for one, whose sire can boast 
The Spartan blood that fired Pisander's vein, 
What time, with brave Orestes, o'er the main 
From throng'd Amyclse to this sea-girt coast 
In brazen arms th' JEolian bands he led ;* 
For one, whose line's maternal head, 
By famed Ismenus' flowery vale, 
From Melanippus f springs — so born, what chief could fail 1 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

Virtues, like circling spheres, by periods move — 
Pass from the sire away, then blaze again 
In the son's son. The sable-cultured plain 
Yields not each year the fruits of nature's love : 
From the green tree not every season pours 
Her gem-like buds, her fragrant flowers : i 
All things by sweet suspension thrive, 
And mortal races bloom and wither and revive. 



* JEolian hands he led. Hellenicus, an early historian whose works 
are lost, but quoted by the Scholiast, makes mention of this emigration, 
by which the Greeks colonized ^Eolis in Asia Minor, Lesbos, and Tene- 
dos. This was eighty years before the migration of the Ionian tribes. 

+ Melanippus was one of the Theban chiefs who defended the gates of 
Thebes against the army of Adrastus and the Argives. He killed 
Tydeus, one of the seven chiefs. The dead body of Melanippus, who 
was killed by Amphiaraus, having been brought to him while yet alive, 
Tydeus ordered his head to be cut off, and tore out the brains with his 
teeth. For which act Minerva deprived him of immortality. — Apollod. 
lib. i. c. 8 ; JEsch. Sep. con. Th. 565 ; Paus. ix. c. 18. 

t Pindar uses nearly the same metaphor, in the sixth Nemean ode,, 
antist. i. with a variety, however, which makes each more beautiful. 

He, like the field that sometimes bears 
From the quick seed, which culture lays, 

Life-fostering fruits and crops of gold ; 
But, when th' alternate season bids abstain, 
Her fallow sleeps refresh'd, and teems again ; 

Thus he— 



2d 



404 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE L 

From whose loud cirque and labour'd game 
Six glittering wreaths the sons of Cadmus won, 

Crowning their glorious country's name 
Where great Alcmena rear'd her brave all-conquering son ; 

EPODE I. 

From whose stern port and brandish'd trunk 
The dogs of Geryon* cower'd and shrunk. 

But hear Herodotus demand 
For his tried speed the chariot-victor's dole, 

Guiding with no auxiliar hand 
His four fleet coursers to the goal. 
Sing him the song of godlike Iblas,t 
Or Castor's hymn his skill to grace : 

Foremost of charioteers were they 

To win the wreath that wakes the lay 
Of Thebes or Sparta's hero race. 

STROPHE II. 

They at the games in fierce athletic fight 
Adventured, and, with many a chaplet crown'd, 

Tasted sweet victory. With tripods bright 
Goblets and cups of gold emblazon'd round 

Their mansions flamed, worth's gorgeous meed ; 
Unrivall'd worth — along the sounding field 

Urged they unarm' d their winged speed, 
Or clad them for the race and shook the clanging shield.* 

* The monster Geryon lived in the island of Erythia, which A 
dorus says is the same as Gades, the modern Cadiz, in Spain, 
oxen were guarded by his herdsman, Eurytion, and by a two-ht 
dog, called Orthus, both of which Hercules despatched with his club. 
The use of the plural number is a mere poetical expression for the 
plurality of heads. — Apollod. ii. 5 ; Hmod, Theog. 

f Iblas is said by the Scholiast to have been Hercules's char 
for which reason the mention of him is here applicable. His i 
feats and qualifications have been before frequently alluded to, a- 
as Castor's celebrity for horsemanship. 

X The two different kinds of foot-race are here intended ; in : 
of which they wore as little clothing as possible, in the other 
were clad in* the heavy armour used by the choicest infantry, v 
was so heavy as to be borne only by men of great strength, and gave : 
a dignity and rank, as well as security, similar to that of the kn:_ 
when clad in complete steel, in the days of chivalry. 






ODE I.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 405 



ANTI3TROPHE II. 

How hurl'd they not the disk's far-bounding stone ? 
From their strain'd arms the whizzing javelin flew ; 

(The tough Pentathlian contests then unknown, 
Each perfect toil its several guerdon drew) : 

Thus oft by famed Eurotas' wave, 
By Dirces sparkling fount their glories shone ; 

And proudly danced their temples brave 
With bowers of countless wreaths their strenuous arms had 
won. 

EPODE II. 

Such Iphicles' illustrious seed, 
Compatriot with earth's dragon breed ;* 

Such Tyndarus' godlike son from high 
Therapnd's hold o'er-peer'd th' Achaean plain :t 

Farewell, proud heroes ! and while I 
To the loud master of the main. 
To sacred Isthmus and th 1 OnchestiAn shore} 
The melting strain promiscuous pour. 

With the son's praise the beauteous lyre 

Shall chant th' adventures of the sire, 
The toils of brave Asopodi 

• I'HE III. 

Him, on his fort-; oents ill Bustain'd, 

l on the rough surge of a boundless sea, 
Orchomenus, through diresi gfcin'd, 

ring receiv< boisterous destiny, 

* Iphicles, the father of nd son of Amphitryon, heing a 

Theban, \s i of the race which Cadmus 

in the dragon'i teeth ; hut he waa descended neither 
- nor fn>m t 
f The inhabitants of the I -merly, and i>ef.»re tlie 

returned with the Dorians, called i, from Achs 

of Xuthus, trho reigned then for a time. Castor, the son of 
Tyndarus, was bora and had bis tomb at Therapne, a city of Laconia, 
Whence he and his brother Pollux , called Tit- 

X 2 ipposed to preside over the 

l-thmus, wli particularly honoured, and the 

th it the mi mother place in which he was 

ily worshi] 



404 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 



[ODE I. 



From whose loud cirque and labour'd game 
Six glittering wreaths the sons of Cadmus won, 

Crowning their glorious country's name 
Where great Alcmena rear'd her brave all-conquering son ; 

EPODE I. 

From whose stern port and brandish'd trunk 
The dogs of Geryon* cower'd and shrunk. 

But hear Herodotus demand 
For his tried speed the chariot-victor's dole, 

Guiding with no auxiliar hand 
His four fleet coursers to the goal. 
Sing him the song of godlike I6las,t 
Or Castor's hymn his skill to grace : 

Foremost of charioteers were they 

To win the wreath that wakes the lay 
Of Thebes or Sparta's hero race. 



STROPHE II. 

They at the games in fierce athletic fight 
Adventured, and, with many a chaplet crown'd, 

Tasted sweet victory. With tripods bright 
Goblets and cups of gold emblazon'd round 

Their mansions flamed, worth's gorgeous meed ; 
TJnrivall'd worth — along the sounding field 

Urged they unarm' d their winged speed, 
Or clad them for the race and shook the clanging shield.^ 

* The monster Geryon lived in the island of Erythia, which Apollo- 
dorus says is the same as Gades, the modern Cadiz, in Spain. His 
oxen were guarded by his herdsman, Eurytion, and by a two-headed 
dog, called Orthus, both of which Hercules despatched with his club. 
The use of the plural number is a mere poetical expression for the 
plurality of heads. — Apollod. ii. 5 ; Hesiod, Tlieog. 

T Iolas is said by the Scholiast to have been Hercules's charioteer ; 
for which reason the mention of him is here applicable. His other 
feats and qualifications have been before frequently alluded to, as well 
as Castor's celebrity for horsemanship. 

% The two different kinds of foot-race are here intended ; in the one 
of which they wore as little clothing as possible, in the other they 
were clad in* the heavy armour used by the choicest infantry, which 
was so heavy as to be borne only by men of great strength, and gave them 
a dignity and rank, as well as security, similar to that of the knights, 
when clad in complete steel, in the days of chivalry. 



ODE I.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 405 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

How hurl'd they not the disk's far-bounding stone 1 
From their strain'd arms the whizzing javelin flew ; 

(The tough Pentathlian contests then unknown, 
Each perfect toil its several guerdon drew) : 

Thus oft by famed Eurotas' wave, 
By Dirce's sparkling fount their glories shone ; 

And proudly danced their temples brave 
With bowers of countless wreaths their strenuous arms had 
won. 

EPODE II. 

Such Iphicles' illustrious seed, 
Compatriot with earth's dragon breed ;* 

Such Tyndarus' godlike son from high 
Therapne's hold o'er-peer'd th' Achsean plain : t 

Farewell, proud heroes ! and while I 
To the loud master of the main, 
To sacred Isthmus and th' Onchestian shore J 
The melting strain promiscuous pour, 

With, the son's praise the beauteous lyre 

Shall chant th' adventures of the sire, 
The toils of brave Asopodore. 

STROPHE III. 

Him, on his fortune's fragments ill sustain'd, 
Toss'd on the rough surge of a boundless sea, 

Orchomenus, through direst dangers gain'd, 
Fostering received. His boisterous destiny, 

* Iphicles, the father of Iolaus, and son of Amphitryon, being a 
Theban, was therefore the fellow-countryman of the race which Cadmus 
had produced from the dragon's teeth ; but he was descended neither 
from Cadmus nor from these. 

t The inhabitants of the Peloponnesus weit ^rmerly, and before the 
Heraclidae returned with the Dorians, called .a Jiseans, from Achseus, 
son of Xuthus, who reigned there for a time. Castor, the son of 
Tyndarus, was born and had his tomb at Therapne, a city of Laconia, 
whence he and his brother Pollux were often called Therapiuei fratres. 

X TIC Onchestian shore. Neptune was supposed to preside over the 
games of the Isthmus, where he was particularly honoured, and the 
poet couples with it the mention of another place in which he was 
especially worshipped. 



406 ISTTTMTAN ODES. [ODE I. 

Now smoothed again to loveliest calm, 
Gleams with the radiance of his earlier day ; 

Experience with reflection's balm 
Misfortune's wounds hath heal'd and shown him wisdom's 



way.* 



ANTISTROPHE III. 



But if success man's noblest powers demand, 
And cost and labour wait upon renown, 

Well may the minstrel with no sparing hand, 
No vulgar praise, the liberal athlete crown. 

'Tis but the pastime, not the pain 
Of Genius his unfailing word to give, 

That bravery shall not strive in vain, 
That virtue raised by him in Fame's bright heaven shall live. 

EPODE III. 

All have their tasks, and each by turns 

His favourite compensation earns : 

The ploughman rude, the shepherd, all 
That strike the wild-bird's wing, or fish the deep, 

Stir but at hunger's craving call, 
And struggle but to feast and sleep ; 
But he that in rough game or mortal fight 
Bids the foil'd foe record his might, 

Wins for his work the brave man's crown, 

The lofty lucre of renown, 
His nation's pride, the world's delight. 

STROPHE IV. 

Change we the strain, in loftier mood to sing 
The neighbouring temple's god,t whose angry mace 

Bocks the firm continent, Saturnian king, 
Lord of the steed, the onariot, and the race ; 



* No certain or satisfactory explanation of what is here alluded to is 
given by the Scholiast. It seems that Asopodorus, by his fault or mis- 
fortune, was expelled from Thebes in some revolution or sedition, and 
became a citizen of Orchomenus J and that he afterwards returned, and 
led a peaceable and private life in his native city. 

f The neighbouring temple's god. This is the temple of Neptune at 
Onchestus, above mentioned. 



ODE I.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 407 

To sing Amphitryon's sons divine,* 
Eubcea's isle,t and Minyas' stately towers,J 

And famed Eleusis, § by whose shrine 
Ceres her cirque displays and mute mysterious bowers. 

AXTISTROPHE IV. 

Yet must I name thy tomb, Protesilas,|| 
In Phylace by chiefs Achsean plann'd, 

Thy field and sacred stadium : but to trace 
Th' equestrian trophies all, by Hermes' hand 

Heap'd on Herodotus, the sum 
Would pass the bounds of my contracted song. 

Best eloquence is sometimes dumb, 
And silence teems with praise, when flattery hath no tongue. 

EPODE IV. 

Raised on th' illustrious Muse's wing, 

That soars to heaven his deeds to sing, 

O may he yet from Pytho's hill, 
From where rich Alpheus laves the Olympian shrine, 

His hand with noblest chaplets fill, 
And for sev'n-portall'd Thebes new honours twine. 
But he that with full hand and spirit poor 
In secret hoards his ill-got store, 

And sneers at prostrate virtue's need, 

Forgets that glory's deathless meed 
Blooms not for him on Pluto's shore. 



* Amphitryon's sons divine. These are Hercules and Iolaus, men- 
tioned above. Both had games celebrated to their honour at Thebes, 
called Herculea and Iolaia. — Schol. 

t Eubcea's isle. There were games celebrated in the island of Euboea, 
called the Basilea. — Benedict. 

X Minyas" stately towers. Minyas was a king of Bceotia. There was 
a festival to his honour held at Orchomenus, called the Minyia. The 
inhabitants of Orchomenus were themselves sometimes called Myniw. 

§ Eleusis. The festival at Eleusis was called Bemetria, or feast of 
Ceres. At all these games it is probable that Herodotus had gained 
some distinctions. 

|| Protesilaus was king of Phylace, in Thessaly, and went with the 
rest of the Greeks to the Trojan war. He first set foot upon the Trojan 
shore, and was immediately killed, according to the prediction of an 
oracle which denounced this fate against the first who should dis- 
embark. The Greeks, after their return, to commemorate this act, 



408 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE II. 

ODE II. 

TO XENOCRATES OF AGRIGENTUM, 

Victor in the Chariot^ace. 

STROPHE I. 

'TWAS long, good Thrasybule,* the minstrel's use, 

When in old times our tuneful sires 
Mounted the chariot of the muse, 

And struck with ardent hand their glorious lyres, 
At some brave youth to send amain 
The shafts of their melodious strain — 
Some youth that just had reach'd the vigorous hour 
When love first learns to long for beauty's blushing flower. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Then was the Muse no drudge ; her artless measures 

No hireling lust of gain inspired : 
The dance, the feast, the frolic pleasures 

Terpsichore's mellifluous numbers fired ; 
With fair, untinsell'd front, unsold, 
Her soft persuasive tale she told. 
In these ill days th' Argaean sage's word 
(Alas, how true !) she gives her votaries to record : 

EPODE I. 

Stripp'd of possessions, friends, and all, 

" Wealth makes the man," wealth only, was his call, t 

instituted games to his honour at Phylace. It seems that Herodotus 
had been victor also in these games. 

* Tlirasybule. Xenocrates was the brother of Theron, and is the sub- 
ject of the sixth Pythian ode. The present ode, however, is addressed, 
not to himself, but to his son Thrasybulus : either because Xenocrates 
was dead when it was written, or, as Callistrates, according to the 
Scholiast, suggests, because Pindar was affronted at the smallness of the 
sum given him. 

f The sage here mentioned, the author of this aphorism, is Aristode- 
mus, the Lacedaemonian, whom Pindar calls an Argive, by the same 
license with which Homer calls Helen the Argive Helen. — II. ii. 161. 






ODE II.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 400 

Thou art not dull of spirit ; to the unwise 
I sing not of the equestrian crown 
From Isthmian rivals nobly won, 
Which to Xenocrates great Neptune gave, 
And sent his Dorian parsley's"' prize 

Around those crisped brows to wave. 

STROPHE II. 

liaised by the god, the chariot-victor shone 

The lamp of Agrigent ; nor less 
His power in Crisa's contest t known, 

Where Phoebus saw and clothed him with success. 
Him foremost in th' Athenian race 
Erechtheus sons with plaudits grace ; 
There with no erring hand, the charioteer 
His bounding steeds rebuked, and wound their fleet career ; 

The story related of Aristodemus is, that having been once rich, and 
losing all his riches, he was deserted by his friends, when he made 
use of this expression, which became a proverb. Diogenes Laertius, 
in his life of Thales, relates that the tripod destined for the wisest of 
the Greeks, and which was passed by one sage to another, being dis- 
claimed by each, was adjudged to Aristodemus in his turn, and he quotes 
the above proverb from Alcaeus. 

* The Corinthians, who superintended the Isthmian games, were of 
Dorian origin. The prize allotted to the victors was, at first, a crown 
made of the pines which grew round the temple of Neptune. It was 
afterwards changed to dry parsley, which continued, it appears, up to 
this time. But Plutarch relates, that the pine at length came again 
into use. — Benedict. 

t Crisa's contest. Crisa, or Crissa, was a town of Phocis, on the sea- 
coast, and near Delphi, which gave its name to the Crissaean gulf. It 
is here, as in Pythian ode vi. antis. i., put for the Pythian games, on 
account of its proximity. Dr. Clarke describes it as a situation of the 
most romantic beauty. Strabo, from this circumstance, calls the dis- 
trict round it EvSaifiov, or the Happy. The riches and luxury of 
the people inflaming their arrogance, the town was razed by a 
decree of the oracle, which had been consulted by the Amphictyons, 
and it has long been a doubt what was its exact situation. The latest 
and best opinion seems to be, that Cirrha was the port, and Crissa the 
town adjoining it, which reconciles those who have confounded them 
together, and those who have made them distinct. — See Clarke's Travels, 
vol. iv. pp. 175 — 177. 



410 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE II. 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

For 'twas Nicomachus, -whose well-timed skill, 

With reins all loose, their fury drove. 
Him, once their host,* the seers that fill 
The pure libations to Saturnian Jove, 

Th' Eleian seers, whose voice proclaims 
The season of the sacred games, 
On the soft lap of golden conquest placed, 
With soothing accents sweet on Pisa's plains embraced ; — 

EPODE II. 

Pisa, their native land, the grove 
And spacious temple of Olympian Jove — 
With whose brave sports, pride of their princely sire, 
The sons of great CEnesidamet 
Mingled the glories of their name : 
For not unsounded in the song divine, 
Unknown to the triumphal choir, 

Shines Thrasybule's illustrious line. 

STROPHE III. 

No wild impervious course hath he to run, 

Mounts no acclivity of praise, 
With whom the maids of Helicon ^ 

To Yirtue's mansion bear their lasting lays. 

* Him, once their host. It is Xenocrates, not Nicomachus, who is 
here intended as having been declared victor at the Olympian games, by 
the Eleian presidents, who had once shared his hospitality. The Eleians 
were not invariably the presidents of the games, but on some occasions 
the inhabitants of Pisa, till these were utterly destroyed by the Eleians, 
who isfused to record the Olympiads in which they had presided. On 
one occasion the Arcadians superintended. These officers, called Hella- 
nodics, varied in number at different times, from one to twelve. — Pott. 
Gr. Ant. vol. i. pp. 504, 505. 

f The sons of great (Enesidame alluded to, are Theron, the subject of 
the second and third Olympian odes, and Xenocrates, the subject of the 
present ode, and the sixth Pythian, and the father of Thrasybulus. The 
Scholiast, however, names them Theron and Dinomenes. which is 
difficult to reconcile with the lines immediately succeeding. 

+ Helicon was a mountain, sacred to the Muses, who had there a 
temple. It is situated in Boeotia, on the borders of Phocis, near the 
sea-coast, and from it flowed the fountain of Hippocrene (also sacred to 



( 



ODE II.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 411 

O ! could I hurl as far, as long, 

The disk, the javelin of my song, 
As thy sweet sire in goodness all outshone ! — 
All hearts his modest worth, his gracious converse won. 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

The Panhellenian rule""' his sports obey'd , 

His stall with generous steeds he stored ; 
Low to each listening god he pray'd, 

At feast, or shrine, or altar : at his board 
Ceased not the fresh convivial gale 
To fill the banquet's swelling sail ; 
His bounty's voyage, as the summer's smile 
Or wintry gloom prevail'd, was Phasis or the Nile.t 

EPODE III. 

Ne'er may the son J (for envy's cloud 
Oft with base hopes the purest heart will shroud) 
Attempt his sire's great virtues to conceal, 
Nor bid these lays in silence sleep ; 
They are not sculptured blocks that keep 
The same dull base — through all the world they flee : 
To my kind host, with all thy zeal, 
This, Nicasippus, bear for me. 

these goddesses), so called because it sprung from the ground when 
struck by the feet of Pegasus. — Ovid, Met. lib. v. 256, et seqq. ; Strabo, 
lib. ix. pp. 409, 410. Pausanias (Bceotica) says, that Mount Helicon 
was particularly famous for the fruitfulness of its soil, and the abundance 
of trees growing upon it. He also adds that poisonous reptiles became 
less noxious by living and feeding there. For a description of the view 
from the summit of the mountain, see Clarke's Tr. vol. iii. p. 115. 

* The Panhellenian rule. It was held imperative upon all the rich in 
every Grecian commonwealth to breed and keep horses for the service of 
the state. — Benedict. 

t Phasis or the Nile. The river Phasis, flowing into the Black Sea, 
at its eastern extremity, was nearly the most northern point of naviga- 
tion to the Grecian mariners, and to be ventured upon only in summer. 
The Nile, on the contrary, was the most agreeable of any for a winter 
voyage. 

Z Ne'er may the son. The poet here charges Thrasybulus, either not to 
suffer any of his father's greatness to induce him to conceal his virtues, 
or rather not to be deterred from publishing them by a fear of the envy 
and jealousy of the world. The passage will bear either construction. 



412 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 



[ODE III. 



ODE III. 

TO MELISSUS OF THEBES, 

Victor in tlie Horse-race. 



STROPHE. 

The man, by fortune raised, that holds 

Unflush'd with pride his blameless course, 

Though glory's wreath his front enfolds, 

Or wealth with power hath bless'd his stores, 

His country's praise to deathless fame shall give. 
Yet but from thee th' exalted virtues flow, 
All-bounteous Jove ! and they that know, 

And fear thy laws, rejoice and live ; 

While he that walks sin's wandering way, 
Ends not in bliss the changeful day. 

ANTISTROPHE. 

[Reward awaits the virtuous deed ; 

The brave command the grateful lyre ; 
For them th' applauding Graces lead, 

And swell the loud triumphal choir. 
"Fortune on proud Melissus hath bestow'd* 

The twofold boon, that glads his manly breast ; — 

First in the cirque his waving crest 
With Isthmian wreaths exulting glow'd ; 

Now through the Lion's vale* the name 

Of Thebes his herald's shouts proclaim — 

* The Lion's vale. The Nemean games were originally instituted by 
Adrastus and his followers, to commemorate the death of Archemorus, 
who was killed by a serpent while his nurse was gone to show them a 
spring of water, having left him lying on a bed of parsley ; from 
which circumstance the parsley became the crown at these games. — 
Apollod. iii. 4. They were afterwards revived by Hercules upon 
occasion of his killing the Nemean lion, to which more celebrated 
person and more remarkable event their foundation was generally 
referred. 



ODE IV.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 413 



EPODE. 

Him master of the equestrian race 
Proclaim ; his deeds no kindred name disgrace : 
His grandsire's fame, 'mong charioteers of old, 
Cleonymus, all tongues have told ; 

Told how from Labdacus, with affluence crown'd,* 
His mother's sires in happier days 

The car quadrigal proudly drove. 
But Time, as rolling seasons onward move, 
His altering hand on all things lays : 

The sons of gods alone nor chance nor change can wound. 



ODE IV. 

TO THE SAME MELISSUS. 



STROPHE I. 

Thanks to the gracious gods, around 

Behold the spacious paths display'd 
"Which thou, with Isthmian chaplets crown'd, 

Melissus, by thy deeds hast made ; 
"Where now thy virtues rare the song shall trace — 

Virtues by heaven bestow'd, which nobly thus 

Have steerd the brave Cleonymus t 
Through life's rough tide with all his race : 

But fortune's gale with changeful force 

Drives every mortal, every course. 

* From Labdacu*, with affluence crown'd. Benedict renders the passage 
thus : — The maternal ancestors of Melissus, who were sprung from Lab- 
dacus, became rich by the number of their victories in the games. The- 
rendering of Heyne seems better : — that, inheriting wealth from the 
rich Labdacidce, they were enabled to meet the expense of such con- 
tests. But from this affluence it appears by the following lines they 
had lately fallen. 

+ Cleonymus, it appears from the last stanza of the preceding ode,, 
was the ancestor of Melissus on the father's side. 



414 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 



AXTISTROPHE I. 

They, 'mong the Theban chiefs adored, 

In honour's seat uneiivied sat : 
Contiguous worthies throng'd their board ; 

No babbling pride debased their state. 
Whate'er the nattering annal of the past 

Breathes for the dead, whate'er the voice of pr 

To living worth profusely pays, 
'Twas theirs in copious draughts to taste, 

And touch with virtues all their own 

Th' Herculean columns of renown ; — 

epode I. 

Bounds which no mortal powers can pass. 

They train'd the raging courser to the race ; 

On them the brazen Mars propitious smiled ; 

Fatal regard ! the tempest wild 
Of roughest war, in one disastrous hour, 

From their loved hearth and prosperou shome 

Four kindred warriors swept away. 

Now, when the wintry month and darken'd day 
No longer lowers, again they bloom, 
Like the fresh vernal vale, with nature's rosiest flower. 

STROPHE II. 

Such is heav'n's will ; and he that shakes 

Earth's bellowing shore, th' Onchestian god,* 
What time by Corinth's walls he mak 

Her sea-bridge loud his wild abode. 
Hath given Melissus' race this blazoning strain : 

He from the couch of ages, where she lay 

In dark oblivion hush'd away, 
Hath roused their ancient fame again, 

That now, like Lucifer, displays, 

Brightest of stars, her rising ra; 

* TK Onchestian god. Respecting Onchestus in Boeotia, from whence 
Neptune derived this title, -which was supposed to be a favourite 
with him, see Istk. ode i. ep. ii. note. 



ODE IV.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 415 



ANTISTROPHE II. 

She on the throng'd Athenian strand — 

She where for Sicyon's glittering games 
His chariot-cirque Adrastus plann'd, 

First at the goal proclaim'd their names, 
Bidding rude bards their wreaths of song prepare. 
Nor at the grand Assemblage,* where the pride 

Of all th' Hellenian champions vied, 
Fear'd they to whirl the circling car : 

Their boast the sumptuous steed to try ; 

The brave unproved in silence die. 

EPODE II. 

"Warriors themselves, till fortune's hand 
TL' ennobling victory gives, no fame command ; 
For e'en the conqueror's wreath is fortune's gift. 
Oft hath the feebler rival's shift 

Filch'd from the best his undisputed crown. 
Who knows not Ajax' injured name It 
How in his wrath, at wane of night, 
"With his own trusty sword and Blander'd might, 
That frantic breast h ine 

To all the sons of Greece that sack'd the Phrygian town ! 

STROPHE III. 

Him yet with noblest eulogy 

'Mongst all mankind hath Homer sung, 
Lifting his virtues to the tkj — 

Him to remotest ages I 
In loud endurii f praise. 

inspiration's word, the gifted strain 

That lasi r : o'er the main, 

Through earth's rich realms and wildest ways, 

The star of brave acliievemeut gleams 

His unextinguishable beams. 

* At the grand Assemblage. Melisaus and his ancestors had been used 
to frequent the solemn games of CJreece, the Olympian and Pythian, 
though they had not succeeded in gaining any prizes in these. — Heyne. 
This ill success seems to afford the ground for the well-turned expres- 
sions in the next stanza. 

t Who knows not Ajax' injured name t See Nem. ode vii. stro. ii. 



416 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 



[ODE IV. 



AXTISTROPHE III. 

Oh ! for a willing Muse, to light 

Like liim the living lamp of song, 
And blazon the Pancratian fight 

"Won by Melissus from the strong ! 
Branch of Telesias, like the roaring king 

Of the rough woods in heart and strength is Le, 

Yet guileful as the fox might be 
That stays the impetuous eagle's wing, 

Couch'd on the ground supine below^ :* 

All sleights are just that foil the foe. 



EPODE III. 

For he no vast Oarion port 

Displays, of outward stature mean and short ; — 
In the fierce conflict stanch and terrible. 
Such once Alcmena's son, they tell, 
Of moderate mould though form'd, but prowess-proof, 
Sallying from Thebes to Libya's shore, 
Where in huge hold Antaeus t lay, 
Provoked the giant-wrestler to the fray ; 
That so that ruffian host no more 
With skulls of murder'd guests pale Neptune's fane might 
roof. 

STROPHE IV. 



To heaven's eternal realms he pass'd ; 

His search explored earth's spacious plain, 
The strands and promontories vast 

That bound the basin of the main : 






* Guileful as the fox, couched on the ground supine. This passage is 
thus explained by Heyne : — The fox, for the purpose of entrapping the 
eagle, frequently lays itself upon its back, pretending to be dead, and 
when the eagle stoops to seize it as her prey, catches her with its claws. 
This, therefore, is a good emblem of the mode in which the weaker 
might by skill and cunning obtain a victory in the Pancratian fight, the 
greater part of the struggle in which was carried on upon the ground. 

T Antceus the giant, son of Neptune and Terra, a monster of inhu- 
manity, had boasted that he would erect a temple to his father Neptune 
with the skulls of his conquered antagonists. 



ODE IV.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 417 

For the safe bark he clear'd th' infested floods ; 

Now in his golden dome with highest Jove 

He quaffs unmingled joys above, 
Beloved and honour'd by the gods, 

And wins, to Juno's self-allied, 

The beauteous Hebe for his bride. 

ANTISTROPHE IV. 

For him, o'er famed Electra's gate,* 

We Thebans still the feast prepare, 
And with fresh flow'rets consecrate 

The new-built altars blazing there ; — 
Blazing with offerings to the spirits brave 

Of his eight sons from blooming Megara born ; 

To them, from eve to radiant morn, 
Through the long night continuous wave 

The reddening flames, and toss on high 

Their faming fragrance to the sky. 

EPODE IV. 

The morrow's cheering dawn proclaims 
The feats of manly strength and annual games : 
Melissus foremost there fresh myrtles bound 
In glittering braids his temples round, 

And gain'd victorious twice the fearful fray : 
A third his youthful arm had won, 
What time the skilful charioteer 
School'd his rude hand the wavering team \o steer — 
Share, Orseus, then thy lord's renown, 

While thus on both we pour the graces of the lay. 

* Electra's gate. The names of six out of the seven gates of Thebes 
may be seen in ^Eschylus. — Sept. con. Theb. See also Dodw. Tr. vol. i. 
p. 264. The gate here mentioned was so named from Electra, the 
sister of Cadmus. Near it once dwelt Amphitryon, and afterwards 
Hercules ; and there was the tomb of his eight sons by Megara, the 
daughter of Creon. Different accounts are given of the manner of 
their death, which are collected by the Scholiast. But the story most 
received was, that they died by their father's hand in a fit of madness. 
The funeral ceremonies, it appears, were performed during the night, 
and the games were celebrated on the following day. 



2 E 



418 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE V. 



ODE V. 

TO PHYLACTDES OF ^EGINA, 

Victor in the Pancratium. 

strophe I. 

O mother of the sun that gilds the day, 

Bright Theia,* for thy sake fond mortals hold 
Before all names of wealth the potent gold. 
For lo, when in the swift and circling fray 

The chariot-harness'd steeds, the galleys brave, 

Moved by thy quickening power, engage, 
What wonder waits on land and wave 
The proud achievements of their rage. 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

Touch'd by thy spirit, in the athletic war 

Glory the champion earns, whose manual force, 
Or footstep foremost in the panting course, 
Have won thick chaplets for his flowing hair. 
But 'tis heaven's doom that gives success below. 

Two things alone, with wealth combined, 
Feed life's sweet flower, and thus bestow 
Joy's purest blessings on mankind ; — 

EPODE I. 

These are fair fortune and recording fame. 

Aspire not to be Jove ; all things are thine, 
If these great gifts thy destiny may claim : 

To mortal hopes thy mortal means confine. 

* Bright Theia, for thy sake. He attributes to the goddess Theia 
(which signifies splendour) the cause of the general devotion of all men 
to gold. She was the mother of the sun (according to Hesiod), whose 
peculiar emblem was gold. To each of the heavenly bodies, as the 
Scholiast observes, was attributed some particular metal : — to the sun, 
gold ; to the moon, silver ; to Mars, iron, &c. 






ODE V.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 419 

For thee, Phylacides, in Neptune's field 

Two chaplets bloom : the proud Pancratian dole 

For thee, with Pytheas* join'd, the Nemeans yield. 
Apart th' ^Eacean race, my thirsty soul 

Tastes not the lay : but Lampon's sons to sing, 

To just ^Egina's walls my willing lyre I bring. 

STROPHE II. 

Oh ! while her chiefs still trace the blameless ways 
To where achievement does the eternal will, 
Grudge not, my Muse, with flowing song to fill 
The beverage of the brave, her cup of praise. 
For when by virtuous deeds warriors became 

Heroes of old, the sounding lyre 
Told to all times their envied name, 
And glory's clarion swell'd the choir : 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Thus by Jove's bounteous grace they shone the theme 
Of eloquence and song, and worship found 
And sacrifice : thus yet with victims crown'd 
To OEneus' t sons the JEtolian altars gleam ; — 
Thebes to the brave equestrian Iolas, J 

Argos the vow to Perseus § pours ; 
Sparta fair Leda's warlike race 
By pure Eurotas' stream adores, 

EPODE II. 

But famed GEnone|| the stout-hearted powers 

Of ^Eacus and his seed : with flame and sword 

They to their base twice razed the Trojan towers, 
With Hercules, and Helen's injured lord. 

* For thee with Pytheas. This victory of Pytheas, who is here 
introduced as the brother of Phylacides, is celebrated in the fifth 
Nemean ode. 

t (Eneus was king of Calydon in ^Etolia. The most famous of his 
sons were Meleager, one of the heroes of the Argonautic expedition, 
who killed the Calydonian boar ; and Tydeus, the father of Diomed, 
who was one of the seven chiefs against Thebes. He was also the 
father of Dejaneira. 

X Iolas. See Pyth. ode ix. stro. iv. 

§ Perseus. See Pyth. ode x. ep. ii. &c. 

II CEnond. Respecting iEgina and the iEacidae, see the eight first 
2 e 2 



420 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE V. 

Bear now, my Muse, thy chariot from the ground 

Aloft, and tell me what unrivall'd hand 
Cycnus and Hector slew, and Memnon, crown'd 

With brazen arms, before his iEthiop band : 
Say who the valiant Telephus defied,* 
"With his own spear transfix'dt by red Cai'cus' tide. 

STROPHE III. 

Who but ^Egina's sons, their country's boast 1 
Transcendant isle ! Long since the song divine 
The tower whereon thy lofty virtues shine 
Ascended : much of thy illustrious host 

My tongue's unerring shaft hath still to sound — 

Witness triumphal Salamis 
By Ajax' towers encompass'd round ; 
Midst war's mad waves and angry skies, 

ANTISTROPHE III. 

By naval strength sustain'd, by myriads press'd, 
She braved the deathful hailstorm of the fray : 
But steep'd in silence be the vaunting lay — 
Jove, lord of all things, as it seems him best, 
Dispenses good and ill : yet in sweet song 

Honours like these delight to live, 
And conquest's ecstasies prolong 
In strains the wise alone can give. 



Nemean odes, all of which are addressed to ./Eginetans. Telamon, the 
son of JEacus, accompanied Hercules as his armour-bearer, when he 
took and destroyed Troy. — Nem. ode iii. antis. ii. ; Nem. ode iv. stro. iv. 
And Ajax and Teucer, the sons of Telamon — Achilles and Neoptolemus, 
the grandson and great-grandson of ^Eacus, accompanied Menelaus in 
the expedition which revenged the rape of Helen. 

* Cycnus, Hector, and Memnon, were all slain, and Telephus was 
wounded, by Achilles. The battle of Telephus and Achilles was repre- 
sented on the posticum of the famous temple of Minerva Alea, at 
Tegea, which Pausanias says was one of the largest and most orna- 
mented temples in Greece. — JDodw. vol. ii. p. 419. 

t With his own spear transfix' d. Other accounts respecting Telephus 
vary from the one here given, and say that he was cured by the rust 
scraped from the point of the spear of Achilles. Pindar, however, has 
perhaps chosen the view of the story better suited to his purpose, 
and requiring less periphrasis of expression. 



ODE VI.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 421 



EPODE III. 

Henceforth let youths from Cleonicus 1 race 

Their labour's lesson learn ; for not in night 
Slumber their proud achievements, nor with base 

Regret grudged they the cost of glory's fight. 
Now shall not Pytheas, whose experienced hand 

First taught the rude Phylacides to know 
The champion's art and onset, stroke and stand, 

Share our free praise 1 Twine round his manly brow 
The wool-wrought band and chaplet : * speed away 
To crown the matchless pair thy new, thy winged lay ! 



ODE VI. 

TO PHYLACIDES, 

Victor amongst Boys. 

STROPHE I. 



As with replenish'd bowl the banquet glows, 

Again for Lampon's brave athletic linet 

"We mix the Muses' cup divine : 
The first to Jove was pour'd,J when round their brows 

* Twine round his manly brow the wool-wrought band and chaplet. The 
Scholiast speaks of the fillet as worn on the breast. If it was so worn, 
it bore a remarkable resemblance to the modern badges of distinction. 

T Again for Lampon's brave athletic line. The Scholiast appears to be 
right in supposing that this ode was written before the preceding one, 
and that the expression "again we mix," refers not to the last ode, but 
to the fifth Nemean, inscribed to Pytheas, another son of Lampon. For 
he expressly says, w. 3 and 4, &c, that the first crown was obtained at 
Nemea, and that this is the second. He also says in this ode, stro. iii. 
w. 10, 11 ; antis. iii. vv. 1, 2, 3, that Phylacides, Pytheas, and Euthy- 
menes, had each obtained one crown only in the Isthmian games. And 
in the last ode, ep. i. vv. 5, 6, he says that Phylacides had gained two. 

+ The first to Jove was pour'd. Pursuing the same metaphor of com- 



422 ISTHMIAN ODES. 

His Nemean braid illustrious hung ; 
This to the despot of the seas, 

And fifty damsels fair from Nereus sprung, 
For wreaths by youngest born Phylacides 
From Isthmian rivals torn : on Pisa's plain 
Oh ! that 'twere theirs a third to gain, 
Mine in the Olympian Saviour's name to shed 
The full mellifluous hymn on blest ^Egina's head. 



[ode VI. 



ANTISTTtOPHE I. 

For he that with bold heart and bounteous hand 
Makes virtue's heavenly work his life's pursuit, 
Whose genius bids the golden fruit 

Of loveliest glory bloom at his command — 
His anchor he, by heav'n advanced, 
On fortune's farthest shore hath cast. 

With such great gifts, such energies enhanced, 
For reverend age and death's repose at last 
The sapient son of Cleonicus* prays : 
With him my fervent vows I raise 

To the high throne, where with her sisters twain 

Eventful Clotho t sits, my Mend's wise wish to gain. 



EPODE I. 



For you, ye sons of godlike iEacus, 

Lords of the golden chariot, my fond Muse 
To yon loved isle returning, thus 

Your names with wonted eulogy bedews. 






paring his odes to cups of wine, he dedicates them accordingly. For the 
first cup, says the Scholiast, was drunk to Jupiter Olympus ; the second 
to the heroes (or demigods) ; the third to Jupiter Soter, or the Saviour 
— because, says the Scholiast, beyond the third cup they could not go 
safely. 

* Lampon, the son of Cleonicus, was the father of the present victor. 

+ Of the three sister Fates each had her separate office. Clotho, the 
youngest, fixed the moment of every man's birth ; Lachesis, the events 
and actions of his life ; and Atropos, the eldest., cut the thread, and 
determined the period of his existence. 



ODE VI.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 423 

Your proud achievements, blazed around 
From land to land, a thousand tracks have trod — 

Through Hyperborean wilds, beyond 
The farthest fount of Nil us' flood. 

Is there a barbarous realm so rude of tongue 
Where Peleus' fame and fortunes none hath sung, 
Th' heroic spouse that won the daughter of a god ? * 

STROPHE II. 

Is there where Ajax' deeds are yet unknown, 

Or Telamon's 1 whom erst his prompt ally, 

War's brazen-beaming field to try, 
Roused at the fraud of false Laomedon, 

Against Troy's wall Alcides led,t 
A hero's toil, and o'er the main 

On the wind's wing his hosts Tirynthian J sped. 
With him combined Pergamia's fruitful plain, 

With him that herdsman dire of mountain mould, 

Alcyoneus, in Phlegrse's hold 
He spoil'd ; he vanquish'd the Meropian foe ; § 
Nor twang'd his hand in vain the deadly-bounding bow. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

'Twas at the crowded feast Alcmena's seed, 

To join the embarking host by herald named, 
The son of ^Eacus proclaim'd. 

Him, fierce and frowning in his warrior's weed 
Of lion's pelt, sage Telamon 
Bade pour the sparkling nectarous wine, 

Libation pure to bless th' exploit begun, 
And to his grasp the cup, with golden shine 

And rough embossment rich, auspicious press'd : 
Forthwith, with hands to heaven address'd, 

Aloud the hero pray'd : " Paternal Jove, 

" If e'er these lips had power thy sovereign will to move, 

* See Nem. ode iii. antis. ii. 

t See Nem. ode iii. antist. ii. and Nem. ode iv. stro. iv. 

X Tiryns, in Argolis, was the usual residence of Hercules. Hence he 
was called the Tirynthian hero. — Virg. ^En. vii. v. 662. Alcmena is 
for the same reason called Tirynthia. — Ov. Met. lib. vi. 112. 

§ The Meropian foe. See Nem. ode iv. stro. iv. 



424 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE VI. 



EPODE II. 

" Grant to my holiest wish, my warmest prayer, 

" My friend's fond hope, from Eribcea's womb 
" In time's due course a valiant heir 

" To spring, and perfect his appointed doom ! 
" Stubborn and sturdy be his frame, 
" Like this tough hide that round my shoulder trails, 

" Stripp'd from the monster's trunk, the same 
" This hand first foil'd in Nemea's vales : 

" Brave be his heart." — This said, propitious Jove 
Despatched his own great eagle from above : 
With joy the plumed king surprised Alcides hails. 

STROPHE III. 

Then loud again, as with a prophet's tongue, 

" O Telamon, the child thou ask'st is thine," 

He cried ; " behold yon bird divine — 
" Authentic signal ! fierce and strong 

" Like him thy warlike son shall be, 
And Ajax his emphatic name." * 

Thus spake and sat Alcides. But for me 
'Twere long their countless virtues to proclaim — 

For I, loved Muse, but came my choral lay 

To crown'd Phylacides to pay, 
And Pytheas and Euthymenes,t that so 
In Argive mood concise^ my bounded praise might flow. 

* And Ajax his emphatic name. From Aietos, an Eagle. It appears 
that Telamon, being childless, and desirous of children by his wife 
Eribcea, took advantage of Hercules being his guest on this occasion, 
and seizing the moment when he was dressed in his lion's skin, desired 
him to offer up to his father the above prayer. 

f Euthymenes, who is also mentioned with praise in Nem. ode v. stro. 
iii., was the maternal uncle of Phylacides and Pytheas. 

X In Argive mood concise. The Argives were not less pithy and con- 
cise in their expressions than the Spartans, according to the Scholiast, 
who quotes a lost play of Sophocles, Ulysses fwibimdus, to that effect, — 

MvOog yap ApvoXtort avvrfMvtiv (3paxvg. 






ODE VI.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 425 



ANTISTROPHE III. 

For three Pancratian chaplets, each his prize, 

From Isthmian sands the kindred champions bore ; 

No less from Nemea's grove they tore. 
Then what loud hymns and copious minstrelsies 

Burst from the lyre ! whose beauteous dews 
On all their tribe Psalychian fell, 

Gemm'd with the brightest sprinklings of the Muse. 
They 'mongst JEgina's heav'n-loved mansions dwell ; 

Where raised by them thy house, Themistius,* shines ; 

Where Lampon to his sons enjoins 
Hesiod's sage rule, in his own practice told, 
" Still to the task in hand with earnest heart to hold." 

epode in. 

There round his country's brows his crown he flings ; 

His bounteous hand the stranger's blessing shares ; 
Still to the golden mean he clings ; 

The palm of modest worth contented bears. 
His tongue still keeps his bosom's pledge ; 
And as the Naxian hone t subdues and moulds 

Hardest of rocks, the falchion's edge, 
Such place 'mongst athlete chiefs he holds. 

For them from Dirce's fount, J the living spring 
Which golden-vested Memory's daughters bring, 
I'll pour, where Cadmus' wall its towering port unfolds. 

* Themistim, the maternal grandfather of Phylacides. 

+ The Naxian hone. This, according to Pliny, was a species of whet- 
stone found in Cyprus, and used for polishing marble ornaments, and 
cutting precious stones. 

% DircVs fount. Pindar being a Theban, and the fountain of Dirce 
being near one of the gates of the city, he allegorically represents its 
waters as the stream of his song, which the Muses, the daughters of 
Jupiter and Mnemosyne, make to flow perennially. 



426 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 



[ode VII. 



ODE VII. 

TO STREPSIADES OF THEBES, 

Victor in the Pancratium. 



STROPHE I. 

For which of all thy sons renown'd of yore, 

Fortunate Thebes, most swell'd thy patriot pride 1 
Was it when full-hair'd Bacchus graced thy shore, 
That sits enthroned by cymball'd Ceres' side 1 * 
Or when the lord of heaven's domain 
Deign'd from his genial cloud to rain 
Within thy wondering walls below 
The midnight shower of golden snow, 

ANTISTROPHE I. 

What time in proud Amphitryon's porch he stood. 

And bade the teeming dame Alcides bear 1 
Was't when the future fate Tiresias show'd '? 
Or Iolasf taught the furious steed to fear? 

Or when earth's brood J in arms sprung out ? 
Or when Adrastus from the shout 
Of thy loud host recoil'd amain, 
His friends all fled, his myriads slain, 

EPODE I. 

Back to his Argive steeds and sheltering towers 1 § 
Or when thy colonies, with Dorian shoot 
Ingrafted, raised on Spartan root 

Their vigorous branches ; and the Pythian powers 

* That sits enthroned by q/mbatt'd Ceres' side. On the sixth day of 
the Eleusinian Mysteries, Bacchus was always joined in the procession 
with Ceres, on which occasion nothing was heard but singing, and the 
noise of cymbals aud brazen kettles. This Bacchus, whose proper name 
is Iacchus, is said by some to have been the son of Ceres, for which 
reason he may be supposed to have been joined with her in the mysteries. 

f Tolas was Hercules's charioteer. 

$ Earth's brood. See Pyth. ode ix. stro. iv. 

§ See Nem. ode ix. stro. iv. v. 



ODE VII.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 427 

Sent ^Egeus' sons, thy warlike race, 
Amy else's plunder'd walls to sway 1 * 

But, since departed glory's grace 
Full fast from mortal memory fades away, 



STROPHE II. 

Save when kind genius rears the blooming flower, 

And bathes it with the glistening dews of song — 
Haste thou thy sweet triumphal hymn to pour 
For brave Strepsiades, whose brows along 
Pancratian wreaths from Isthmus bear ; 
Fierce his stout port, yet shapely fair, — 
Fair, yet enhanced with virtue's charms, 
More lovely than the frame it warms. 

ANTISTROPHE II. 

Lo while his name and fame his uncle shares, 

Their violet locks th' applauding Muses wave — 
Fall'n in the field of brazen-shielded Mars,t 
For honour is the guerdon of the brave. 
Assured be he, whose generous pow'r, 
In the fierce fight's tempestuous hour, 
"Wards from his country's front away 
The furious hailstorm of the fray, 

* It is difficult to determine whether this refers to the assistance given 
by the Thebans to. the Heraclidae in their return to the Peloponnesus, or 
to the Spartans in their war with Amyclae. The reasons in support of 
either opinion will be found in the Scholiast, who inclines to the latter. 
The iEgidse seem to have been one of the tribes at Thebes. 

+ Heyne justly rejects the opinion of the Scholiast, that Strepsiades 
here mentioned, the son of Diodotus, and uncle of the victor who bore 
the same name, was killed in the Peloponnesian war, which began four 
years after the death of Pindar. The same with respect to the battle of 
Marathon, at which the Thebans were not present, being on that and 
other occasions favourable to the Persians. He ascribes his death, 
therefore, rather to the wars between the Boeotians and Athenians, 
mentioned by Herodotus, bk. v. c. 75, et seqq. 



428 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE VII. 



EPODE II. 

Hurling retorted vengeance on the foe, 

That fame his life shall crown, and largely grace 

Beyond the grave his honour'd race. 
Son of Diodotus, now liest thou low, 

Rival in war's destructive game 
Of Meleager, and the dread 

Amphiareus, and Hector's fame ! 
In youth's fair prime thy lofty spirit fled 

STROPHE III. 

'Twas in the fight's first rank, where round thee cast 
Their desperate stand thy bravest comrades made : 
Much hath thy fate perplex'd me ! — but 'tis past — 
Neptune with gracious hand the storm hath laid,* 
And all is calm again. I'll fling 
Braids round the victor's brows and sing. 
Quench not, kind heav'n, the minstrel's fire ; 
Grudge not the raptures of the lyre ! 

ANTISTFvOPHE III. 

'Tis but the moment's ecstasy, which I, 

Well pleased, in peace indulge, till age and death 
Shall come, as come they must — for all shall die, 
Though fates unequal close our days beneath. 
Man is too brief long aims to reach : 
Presumptuous hope, that fain would stretch 
To heaven's high throne her daring view, 
Is but the winged steed that threw 

* Neptune with gracious hand the storm hath laid. As Neptune stills 
the raging of the sea after a storm, so he had calmed the affliction of the 
victor's family at the death of their relation, hy granting a victory in the 
Isthmian games over which he presided. — Benedict. 



ODE VIII.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 429 



EPODE III. 

Bellerophon, what time his frenzied pride 

Aspired to tread th' eternal domes above,* 
And sit amongst the peers of Jove. 

Such baneful fruits forbidden joys betide. 
O Loxias, whose unclouded brow 

Beams with the golden locks of day, 

Grant us thine own great games to know, 

And bind our temples with thy Pythian bay. 



ODE Till. 

TO CL'EAKDER of jEGINA, 

Victor in tlie Pancratium. 



STROPHE I. 

Lead forth the tuneful pomp, the moving choir, 

Bid them their rich reward prepare 

To crown Oleander's youthful war, 
At the proud porch of Telesarch, hi3 sire, 

* This passage of Pindar is imitated by Milton (Par. L. bk. vii. 
1. 16), where he addresses Urania : — 

Return me to my native element : 
Lest from this flying steed unrein'd (as once 
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime), 
Dismounted, on th' Aleian field I fall. 

Pegasus, sprung from the blood of Medusa, was, according to. the account 
here alluded to, given to Bellerophon to conquer the Chimsera. After 
his victory, he aspired to fly to heaven, when Jupiter, sending an insect 
to torment him, occasioned Pegasus to throw his rider. Pegasus pursued 
his own flight to heaven, and became a constellation. 



430 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE VIII. 

Sounding the loud triumphal strain : 

Such meed his Isthmian conquest claims, 
Such his tried strength in Nemea's games. 
For him, though pierced with pain, 

With public grief though wrung, will I 
Yet woo the golden Muse to wake 
Her cheering minstrelsy.* 

From huge disasters free, no more 
Its wreath the champion's front shall lack : 

Past ill 'tis folly to deplore ; 
O grieve not at the abortive wrong ; 

The toil hath ceased, the fight is won. 
Spread far and wide the joyful strain — 
For lo ! the ponderous stone 
Of Tantalus, that o'er us threatening hung, 
Some god hath heaved aside, and Greece revives again. 

STROPHE II. 

Intolerable weight ! till dread dismay 
Thus by celestial aid dispell'd, 
My soul's o'erwhelming care had quell'd : 
But to the business of the present day, 
Man's best employ —for time unseen 
Hangs o'er us with his shadowy thong, 
Urging life's stealthy steeds along. 
Yet well brave hearts, I ween, 

Wounds deep as ours, with freedom blest, 
May bear, and for success to come 
On hope's assurance rest. 

Born in sev'n-portall'd Thebes, + 'tis mine 
Song's sweetest flowers and freshest bloom 

For famed ^Egina's brows to twine. 
She with her heroine sister brave, 

Fairest and youngest of their line, 

* It is the opinion of the Scholiast that some relations of Oleander had 
fallen at the battle of Salamis, shortly after which this ode appears to 
have been composed. 

f Pindar elsewhere acknowledges the relationship subsisting between 
Thebes and iEgina, upon the ground of the nymphs, Thebe and iEgina, 
being both sprung from the river Asopus. 



ODE VIII.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 431 

From old Asopus sprung, and won 

Jove's amorous grace divine ; 
He gave, where Dirce pours her limpid wave, 
The chariot-echoing walls for beauteous Thebe's throne : 

STROPHE III. 

Thee, to th' (Enopian isle * imbower'd he led ; 

Whence iEacus his heavenly birth 

Derived, of kings revered on earth 

The most that issued from the Thunderer's bed. 

The powers that hell's tribunal fill, 

Defined by him, their dooms profound : + 
His godlike sons, in fight renown'd, 
Their sons, more godlike still, 

Surpass'd : they knew the spear to wield ; 
The gathering groan, the rout to spread, 
And sway the troubled field. 

To them was keen discernment given, 
And temperance chaste by wisdom bred ; 

Not unpreferr'd, unmark'd by heaven, 
What time for Thetis Neptune strove, 
In the full hall of state divine, 
'Gainst Jove, inflamed with rival fire, 

The beauteous nymph to win. 
Yet not, by love though touch'd, all conquering love, 
Though gods immortal born, urged they that rash desire, 

STROPHE IV. 

Awed by the dread response which Themis^ gave, 

Sage warner to the assembled sky, 

The thrilling threat of destiny : 
" Gods, should the mistress of the raging wave 

* Thee, to th' (Enopian isle. " Thee " refers to iEgina, of which 
GEnopia was one of the ancient names. — Ov. Met. 1. vii. w. 472, 473. 

+ The poiver that Jiell's tribunal, <tc. .^Eacus was reckoned the most 
religious and upright man of his generation, and during his lifetime 
he obtained by his prayers the cessation of a famine which afflicted 
the whole of Greece. After his death, he was made one of the judges 
of hell. Apollodorus says, Pluto gave him the keys of the gates of hell. 

X The Fates were generally considered to be superior even to Jupiter, 
who was obedient to their decrees. But Themis was even prior to 
these, being, according to one of Hesiod's poems, the mother of the 



432 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE VIII. 

" To Jove's all-procreant arms aspire, 
" Or brother's of high Jove, a king 
" From that portentous love shall spring 
" More potent than his sire ; — 

" One, whose stout hand a bolt shall throw 
" More fearful than the trident's might, 
" Or thunder's instant blow. 

" Cease then the fatal suit, while she 
" Some mortal love shall best requite ; 
" And slain her son in battle see, 
" Though strong as war's impetuous god, 

" Swift as the lightning's radiant wing : — 
" To Peleus, son of ./Eacus, be ours 
" The bridal prize to bring, 
" Destined by heaven, to where his calm abode 
" The pious conqueror holds in rich Iolcus' bowers. 

strophe v. 

" To Chiron's cave,* within th' eternal hill, 
" Swift be the blissful tidings borne ; 
" No more this Nereid nymph forlorn 
" Our hands with plaints of clamorous love shall fill. 
" Bid her, when now full-orb'd on high 

" Dim evening's front the moon shall grace, 
" Clasp'd in the hero's fond embrace 
" Her virgin bond untie." 

Thus to the gods of Saturn's line 
Heaven's arbitress their sentence sung : 
Waved they their brows divine, 
Th' assenting nod in silence made, 
Nor left th' eternal fruit that hung 

On her wise words unpluck'd to fade. 



Pa/rcce, or Fates themselves. She was the prime fountain of all oracle 
and prophecy, and the oracle of Delphi belonged to her before it came 
under the superintendence of Apollo. This decree of Fate, whereby 
the son of Thetis was to become greater than his father, which occa- 
sioned Jupiter and Neptune to give up their suit, and to marry her to 
Peleus, is elsewhere alluded to by Pindar. — Nem. ode iii. anti3. ii. ; 
Nem. ode iv. stro. viii. ix. 
* See Nem. ode iii. antis. iii. 



ODE VIII.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 433 

Jove now the sea-maid's nuptial plann'd : 
And song in thrilling numbers taught 
To youth's unpractised ear the deeds 
Divine Achilles wrought. 
See Telephus beneath his conquering hand 
On Mysia's vine-clad plain, her gasping monarch, bleeds. 

strophe VI. 

His arm fair Helen for At rides' sake 

Released, and o'er the billowy bourn 
Bridged for the Greeks their wish'd return. 
The sinews of Troy's war his javelin brake, 
Memnon and manliest Hector's might, 
And many a famous chief beside, 
Whose rage oft stay'd the slaughter's tide, 
Oft turn'd the doubtful fight. 

To these pale Proserpine's abode, 
Tower of the sons of iEacus, 
The great Achilles show'd, 

Gave to all times ^Egina's name, 
And crown'd his grandsire's glorious house. 
Him ev'n in death the chant of fame 
Forgot not ; o'er his sacred pyre 

Th' Aonian maids enraptured hung, 
And in full choir around his grave 
The strain of glory sung. 
Thus to the powers that sway the living lyre 
Rewarding heav'n commits the memory of the brave. 

STROPHE VII. 

Fired by that spirit, to Nicocles' * tomb, 
Brave champion, her careering song 
The Muses' chariot bears along, 
Sounding his Isthmian conquest, and the bloom 
Of Dorian parsley round his brows. 
Full many a tough ill-omen'd foe 
His hand's inevitable blow, 
At games and bordering shows, 

* Nicocles, it appears, was Oleander's uncle. 
2f 



434 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 



[ODE VIII. 



Stunn'd and subdued. The stripling's fame, 
That calls his glorious uncle sire, 
Dishonours not his name. 

Let rival youths with myrtle weed 
Oleander's glittering locks attire, 
The stout Pancratian victor's meed. 
His might in Epidaurus* shown, 

Him in th' Alcathoan contest crown'd, 
Fortune with all her smiles embraced. 

The brave his praise shall sound : 
For no sequester'd course, no path unknown, 
Unstrew'd with glory's flowers, his virtuous steps have traced. 

* The games celebrated at Epidaurus were in honour of ./Esculapius. 
— Nam. ode iii. ep. iv. The Alcathoan games were held at Megara, 
which was itself sometimes called Alcathoe, from Alcathous, a son of 
Pelops, who became king of that country. He there destroyed a great 
lion, in commemoration of which the festival was instituted. 



THE END. 



630 *| 



COX 'BROTHERS) AND WYMAN, PRINTERS, GREAT Q17EKN STRKET. 

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